The Considerably Longer Second Life Of Bree Tanner
by Kaamokset
Summary: I'd lost Diego, lost everything, but still some spark inside me ignited when the Dark-Cloaks announced my death. I wouldn't let them have me so I ran. Bree against the world. But the world was hella angry. This is my story, the story when I didn't take death sitting down. Now read on, and I'll tell you how impossibly scary it is to be hunted by the Yellow-Eyes.
1. Chapter 1

The moment he'd slid his hand under my chin to yank my head off, I'd gagged on death. Managed to gag out a plea for mercy, I seem to recall. That made the hand retreat.

Then I was being scrutinised, still just as terrified, feeling hatred bearing down on me. I couldn't believe how unfair this was.

As a human I was treated like shit, only to find myself a Red-Eyes….treated like shit and now I would die, again, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as I had been for my entire life.

As least they'd make it quick - that wild-looking blonde one was ready to go.

 _She_ had scared me, Riley had scared me, the others like me had scared me, the Dark-Cloaks had scared me and these yellow-eyes _fucking_ scared me.

Oh, and speak of the devil.

"Hmm…"

The voice sent shivers down my spine. It was the Dark-Cloak leader, the kid. This is who the Yellow-Eyes had been waiting for. But wait, weren't they, like, enemies? The Dark-Cloaks had been working with _her,_ _against_ the yellow-eyes.

"Welcome, Jane," said the leader, the guy with the human.

Instead of answering his slightly stiff greeting, this _Jane_ instead turned to look at me. Her gaze felt like a punch in my granite stomach. I wanted to throw up.

"I don't understand," she said.

No, me neither.

"She has surrendered," Ginger replied.

"Surrendered?"

 _Surrendered?_

"Carlisle gave her the option," he muttered, turning reverently to my would-be executioner, the blonde.

So-called _Carlisle_ then stepped forward and the others almost subconsciously shuffled back to let him have the stage.

Ah, so _he_ was the leader. Makes sense. He had expensive shoes on. Leaders usually had expensive shoes, (just an observation).

"There are no options for those who break the rules," said Jane with a kind of smirk.

"That's in your hands," said the leader, Carlisle, or whatever he called himself, in a calm voice. "As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."

Yeah, _thank you_ Mr Yellow-Eyes, no, she _wasn't._ I almost forgave him for addressing me as 'child.'

"That is irrelevant," Kiddy countered carelessly.

I think at this point my mouth must have fallen open in indignation. How was that _irrelevant?_ I was in trouble, right? So wouldn't the first thing to do be to ask me what happened?

"As you wish," said Mr Yellow-Eyes in the same tone.

At this, Jane looked pissed off with him. And so was I. So, that was fine, right?

"Aro hoped that we would get far enough west to see you, Carlisle," said Kiddy, politely. "He sends his regards."

"I would appreciate it if you would convey mine to him," Mr Yellow-Eyes replied just as courteously.

"Of course. It appears that you've done our work for us today…for the most part," said Girlie, arrogantly sweeping her eyes across me.

 _For the most part._

 _Somebody_ was't dead yet.

I was glad a heartbeat couldn't give away my fear at those words. I could guess who 'somebody' was.

But Kiddy continued blandly, as if she hadn't just pronounced my death sentence.

"Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? they left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."

I felt a slight frosting of guilt on my terrified skin,

"Eighteen, including this one," said Mr Carlisle-the-Aryan.

"Eighteen?" Jane repeated in surprise, whether real or fake I'd never know.

"All brand new," blondie continued. "They were unskilled."

His eyes raked the battlefield for a moment. Yes, yes we were.

"All?" repeated Evil-Jane. "Then who was their creator?"

Hah, like you don't know. I thought savagely.

At this, I saw the red-head stiffen. Okay, so _he_ was the mindreader. At my revelation he shook his head ever so slightly at me. A warning.

"Her name was Victoria," he then managed to say to Jane.

"Was?" Jane asked, though needlessly.

Red-head tossed his head carelessly towards the mountains and another plume of smoke. The Yellow-Eyes had killed her.

And suddenly I was even more afraid. _She_ had been the epitome of fear. How could anything defeat _her?_

"This Victoria," Kiddy continued, seeming to feel the same concern as I did. "She was in addition to the eighteen here?"

"Yes," said Ginger serenely. "She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older than a year."

Riley. They killed Riley!

"Twenty," breathed Kiddy.

If I didn't know any better (and I'm not sure I did) I would have thought she was panicking.

If the Yellow-Eyes killed all of _our_ Red-Eyes, what problem would four _more_ Red-Eyes be?

"Who dealt with their creator," she asked, careless again.

Maybe I had imagined her worry.

"I did," said the Red-head.

And enjoyed it I thought before disciplining myself. He could hear me, after all.

Ginger seemed to wig kiddy out a bit so she turned her gaze back to me.

"Your there, your name," she said.

I just glared at her.

Fuck you, Princess. I thought. You'll get nothing from me you dirty, twisted, corrupt lying whiny little motherfucker. I'll die bef-

But then the pain hit. Hit like _bullet-train_. I didn't know what to do. It was like the transformation into a Red-Eyes except worse somehow because I could feel the intent behind it, like Jane's hate was flowing inside me.

I guess I was screaming, I didn't really know.

"Your name," she repeated calmly after the train had passed.

"Bree," I managed to gasp.

It didn't occur to me to lie. It didn't occur to me to disobey.

And I'd given her what she asked for! But, again, the pain came, though this time it was different, this time it was for fun.

"She'll tell you everything you want to know," came a voice, warped in my own ears by agony.

I didn't know who was speaking.

"You don't have to do that."

"Oh, I know," came her voice, happy. "Bree?"

I turned to her, fearfully now, finally understanding why the other Red-and-Yellow-Eyes were scared of the Dark-Cloaks.

"Is his story true, were there twenty of you?" she asked, almost kindly.

"Nineteen or twenty, maybe more, I don't know!" I burst desperately. "Sara and the one whose name I don't know got in a fight on the way…"

I braced. It was coming! It was coming!

But no, Kiddy wanted to talk now.

"And this Victoria…Did she create you?" asked Kiddy, knowing damn well.

"I don't know," I said. "Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night…it was so dark and it hurt!"

I shivered involuntarily then stopped as I realised that Jane could bring that pain back again if my answer wasn't good enough (and maybe even if it was.)

"He didn't want us to be able to think of her," I stammered. "He said that our thoughts weren't safe."

Everyone turned the the mind-reader. Yes, you.

"Tell me about Riley," continued Her Majesty. "Why did he bring you here?"

Yes, why _did_ he bring us here?

"Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange Yellow-Eyes here," I said, truthfully.

That _was_ what he had told us.

"He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours. He gave us her scent-"

I gestured vaguely to the human.

"-He said that we would know that we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said that whoever got her first could have her."

I didn't think I'd talked so fast in my life.

"It seems like Riley was wrong about the easy part," Kiddy laughed.

Ha ha… _Fuck you._

"I don't know what happened," I continued, taking some savage pleasure in telling Kiddy exactly what she needed to have me say to the Yellow-Eyes while I told Ginger the truth in my head. "We split up, but the others never came. And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing and everyone was in pieces. I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one,"

I jabbed a finger at Expensive-shoes.

"Said he wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

"Ah, but that was not his gift to offer, young one," said Kiddy. "Broken rules demand a consequence."

BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THE RULES SO HOW COULD I HAVE INTENDED TO BREAK THEM? I thought frantically.

Leaving me to my turmoil, Kiddy turned to Mr Yellow-Eyes.

"Are you sure you got all of them?" Kiddy asked. "The other half that split off?"

"We split up too," said Mr Yellow-Eyes, perhaps a note of triumph colouring his smooth voice.

"I can't deny that I'm impressed," Kiddy said, though I'm sure she could deny anything she wanted with that _pain_ of hers.

"Yes," agreed Kiddy's three hench-cronies.

"I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact," she said while I balked.

So, not a single Yellow-Eyes had died? That was _insane._

"Do you know what was behind it?" she continued to simper. "It seems like extreme behaviour, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?

She turned to the human. I stiffened. The human. Seriously, how could I actually think about blood at a time like this?

"Victoria held a grudge against Bella," Ginger told her.

Jane laughed.

"This one seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind," she said, and I fucking agreed.

How many lives ruined or taken for this battle today?

"Would you please not do that?" snapped Ginger, breaking me out of my thoughts.

He looked from Jane to the human.

"Just checking," said Kiddy lightly, though she looked pissed. "No harm done apparently."

Ohhhhhh, so the human wasn't affected by Jane's … thingy. That was weird … and super lucky, actually.

"Well it appears that there's not much left for us to do," said Kiddy.

Yes, it certainly appears that way, doesn't it?

"Odd, we're not used to being rendered unnecessary," she said. "It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch."

"Yes, and you were so close," said Mind-reader. "It's a shame you didn't arrive just a _half-hour_ earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here."

I was triumphant. He knows! In your pretty face, _bitch!_

"Yes," she said infuriatingly. "Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?" she gave Mind-reader a sickly smile.

I guess she was very decidedly thinking of unicorns and rainbows.

Then she looked at me.

"Felix?" she said casually.

"Wait, we could explain the rules to the young one," said the mind-reader quickly. "She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

Yes, thank you Ginger, well said.

"Of course," said Blondie after a long meaningful look with nice Yellow-Eyes lady. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

They….they _would?_ _Why?_

Actually _would_ they? The other Yellow-Eyes blonde male was looking at me with loathing. I hated him too.

"We don't make exceptions," said Kiddy plainly. "And we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me…"

She tuned to speak directly too the human.

"Caius will be _so_ interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll deicide to visit."

"The date is set," said another Yellow-Eyes, the minuscule dark-haired female. "Perhaps we'll come to visit you in a few months."

So…they would make the human into a Yellow-Eyes. That was…an interesting notion.

Now Jane looked pissed off. I guessed now even she had got fed up with all of this talking.

"It was nice to meet you, Carlisle," she said, though the opposite was clearly true. "I'd thought Aro was exaggerating."

She looked loftily at the Yellow-Eyes.

"Well," she said. "Until we meet again."

She then turned and stalked away.

"Take care of that, Felix," she said without looking at the _thing_ which was obviously _me._ "I want to go home."

"Don't watch," murmured mind-reader to his human.

He didn't want her to see my execution, though maybe she _should_ have watched out of respect. It was _her_ doing.

The big guy strode forward. He was the 'heavy'. I guess even in this weird new world the ass-holes in charge still got others to do their dirty work for them, though the kid looked like she would actually enjoy killing me.

Killing me.

I was going to die. Somehow it was worse the second time, knowing to was going to happen.

I threw my gaze a final time to the amassed Yellow-Eyes. Their expressions ranged from relief to anger to polite regret to apparent disinterest. Only one, the pretty caramel-haired female who had stood up for me showed any real remorse. But they looked down on her. I had noticed that hey barely let her fight us.

I flipped my eyes back to the individual of more pressing urgency, passing the Yellow-Eyes now. They just let him through. Just like that.

Oh, a kid dies, what a _shame._ We'll just pretend to be sorry then go back to whatever Yellow-Eyes like to do.

I knew what had gone down, and I knew why I was being condemned to die, but it wasn't _fair._ Not at all. How the fuck was _I_ to know? I didn't even _attack._ Sure, yes, I killed people, but _I_ was taken and bitten too! _I_ was a victim here!

It was obviously just cleaner to get rid of me. Bree Tanner's death would be a convenience.

No, I was not having that. I was not going to let them have me.

So, almost with my own eyes closed, I ran.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:**

Hi guys! I know this isn't the longest of chapters but I really wanted to upload. Hope you enjoy :)

...

 **Chapter 2**

I'd always loved doughnuts. Always. They used to be my favourite food. Not now, obviously, but when I was a kid, I just couldn't get enough of them. A very errant thought, I know, but it came to me as I desperately scurried around trying to figure out how the Yellow-Eyes had cornered me in their territory. It was a doughnut.

The empty hole in the centre was the town, Forks, it was called. And there was where I wanted to be. Blood. Blood was in Forks.

The very outside edge of the doughnut marked the edge of my prison. That was also where I wanted to go because that meant freedom. But no, as per usual, I was stuck where I didn't want to be, in the stodgy dough of the doughnut, trapped.

The Yellow-eyes patrolled the boundaries to keep me in the district but to keep me away from humans. And I _hurt._

I wondered how long it would take me to die of thirst, the way I felt now, maybe not long, though it had only been three days since my binge on the ferry, and no, I don't mean Ben and Jerry's.

Ben and Jerry's.

So bizarre, the weirdest memories were coming back to me.

When I was super tiny and mom was still around, I used to get Ben and Jerry's when I was sick and had a sore throat. Now though, it did no good. In fact just thinking about my throat made the burning worse.

But I was trapped. Well and truly. And I had no intention of attempting to un-trap myself because I had met the wolves. Yep, wolves. Fucking _huge_ ones.

So last night I had tried again. Tried to find a hole in the circuit that the yellow-eyed monsters were making around me. And finding an area with the _weakest_ of vampire scents, I thought that I had. I raced forwards excitedly, but as I did I smelled this…well, it smelled like _shit,_ truthfully, like this earthy, rotting vegetable, wet-dog smell. And then I saw a wolf. A massive motherfucking wolf. It was big and grey and snarled like the devil.

Did I run? Er, _fuck_ yes I did! I ran so fast and so desperately I felt like I was going to take flight

I heard it bounding behind me and it could seriously move, it almost caught up with me, and would have if I hadn't been a strong young Red-eyes.

Worse than that, I began to pick up other pounding foot prints behind me. The panic I felt was unreal as I sensed an entire pack of the rancid things chasing me.

Perhaps some deep part of my mind was making rational decisions because I ran towards the area where the Yellow-Eyes scent was strongest, hoping that the monsters would decide that _they_ would be more tasty, though I was thwarted the moment I saw the big Yellow-eyes male waiting for me _with_ another of the wolves.

…Oh for _fuck's_ sake…

I stopped dead, cornered, I could barely even breathe. I squeezed my eyes shut tight to await death. Nobody could say that I hadn't tried. A wave of dread washed over my skin.

I could hear the wolves' wet breaths behind me as they prowled into the clearing. I could also hear-

"What in the fuck?"

I opened my eyes to see the big Yellow-eyes male, the Incredible Hulk gaping at where I was standing.

"Wha- Where'd she go?" he asked as he was joined by Mind-Reader and Blond Psycho.

Mind-Reader looked troubled.

"She's gone," he muttered. "I can't hear her thoughts…unless she's a shield…"

Psycho began to prowl, sniffing the air. He looked _hella_ angry.

"I cannot smell her," he said in a Southern Drawl. "She must have left the area."

"But dude!" cried Hulk. "She was just there! You- Edward, you saw her in my mind, right? Or am I just going crazy?"

 _I_ thought I might be going crazy as one of the wolves morphed in front of my eyes into a man. Naked, just to be clear.

He strode up to the Yellow-eyes.

"Sam," said Hulk in a gruff voice, looking the man up and down. "I didn't know you felt this way…"

He snorted with laughter at the expression on Mind-reader and Psycho's faces.

"Seriously, you trying to come on to me or something?" he chortled to the wolf-man. "Put some pants on Doggy, I'm happily married."

The others didn't seem to appreciate the comic relief. Poor Hulk Yellow-eyes, he _had_ tried his best.

They also didn't seem to appreciate the fact that they couldn't see me, or smell me. Why couldn't they?

Gingerly, I glanced down at my arm, which…Wait, where the fuck was my arm?

I felt a knot of panic in my stomach but keep in under control. I'd worry about the invisibility later, for now the threat was in front of me.

The threat was angry.

"This is not possible!" snarled Psycho.

"In the same way that it's not possible for Alice to see the future, for me to read minds," said Mind-reader, playing smart-ass even in this situation. "She's gifted."

Gifted? What, like _Fred?_

"You are saying to me," began Hulk slowly. "That this kid… can _teleport?"_

"Err," mind-reader looked like he had a headache. "Well, it appears…well, yes."

 _"_ _Holy_ shit!" laughed Hulk. "We are _so_ fucked."

The other two snarled.

"Sam," said Mindreader. "Rally the pack and patrol the woods, we will take the town. We have to entertain the idea that the newborn has unlimited access to Forks."

Newborn? Seriously? I told you my damn name!

"We must notify Carlisle!" muttered Psycho after Yellow-eyes' crazy-scary lap-dog had phased back and bounded off (thought perhaps bounded is the wrong word for a monster that big.)

"We must protect Bella!" hissed Mind-reader, suddenly extremely intense.

God forbid anything should happen to his pacifier.

However, even as I was being sarcastic, I couldn't deny that my thirst came back with a vengeance. Holy fucking shit. What I wouldn't give for a taste of that particular human.

And on that note, my throat starting charring, and I couldn't keep still anymore.

I felt a feathering over my skin and saw to my horror that I was re-appearing.

"There!" shouted Mind-reader as either my scent, my body or my thoughts became detectable again.

And with a snarl of movement, there we were again, running.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes:**

Hey guys! Thank you for reading! Also, credit to 'The Inbetweeners UK' for the Statue of Liberty joke.

Hope you like the chapter!

 **Chapter 3**

Thirsty…

…Thirsty…

…Thirsty, chorused my throat.

Thirsty, thirsty, thirsty.

 _…_ _Jesus._

If I had been a kid on a car journey, I would have whined and asked if we were there yet. Was I there yet? I didn't even know where 'there' was. I had a sinking feeling it was death. Wow, how cheerful was I becoming? Cheer _up_ Bree!

Neglecting to do so, I carried on, driven by a primal need to survive, though the super-speed that used to thrill me had started to feel like a trudge.

Thirsty.

Thirsty.

 _Thirsty._

To fill you in, at this point, it had been three whole days since my run-in with the mutts, so that was three days since my discovery…and three days to practice. Of course Riley (may he rest in torment) had told us about 'gifted' vampires and I was determined to use my newfound talent to my advantage.

I couldn't _vanish_ as such, I only looked like the background I stood against, a bit like a chameleon so if I moved too fast, the picture on my skin would blur and I'd be visible. However, I wasn't detectable by the mind-reader, or by smell, that was what I had gathered from the Yellow-Eyes' confusion in the clearing. The downside was that I was still very much solid and left footprints when I ran, so I stuck to the treetops for the most part. Ninja indeed.

This thought was accompanied by the stab on pain I felt when I remembered Diego and felt his loss like an actual wound. He'd helped me so much, I wouldn't have survived if it weren't for him.

Although now it all made sense, why I was able to hide from the other newborns, Kirsty, Raole and the others. All this time I had thought it was Fred making me undetectable but it was me, always me. I guess my human life had given me quite the experience in being invisible.

And weirdly enough, even with my throat searing, a pack of ravenous bloodthirsty freaks on my ass and my best friend's remains probably smouldering somewhere I felt kinda…happy.

No, maybe happy was the wrong word, I felt… _powerful._

And, as I'm sure some wise-ass has said at some point, with power comes cockiness, which is how I found the Yellow-eyes' nest. And by _nest,_ I mean a huge fuck-off mansion in the middle of the forest. Perhaps their eyes were gold with wealth? It was a theory.

Their _crib_ was in the soft dough of my doughnut, giving me free, though risky, access because there was always someone there, either a wolf or a yellow-eyes. But I was cautious.

I approached slowly and silently, not even breathing, for maybe several minutes until I could see the house.

The house was an enormous white wedding-cake affair with huge glass windows that glinted in the rare freckles of sunlight. A river gushed happily through the trees which curtained the pristine lawn, the type that was mown in stripes, _and_ they had an orchard _and_ a flower garden. _Jeez._

They also had a human. _That_ human. I could smell her in the very fibres of the house.

And maybe that's why I came to their home so often, just for the smell.

Once, I was able to get quite close, inching slowly forward, millimetre by millimetre so no one would notice me. And as a result I was able to learn quite a lot about the yellow-eyes.

The leader was the blonde (who had tried to kill me, thank you very much), and from what I could gather he was some kind of doctor, so he was _Dr_ Yellow-Eyes. Now, _his_ favourite seemed to be the disney princess one with loads of curly brown-ginger hair who seemed unable to keep still, or maybe it was the statue of liberty (y'know, the ridiculous spiked up hair), the mindreader who had the human. He also spoke a lot with Short-ass who seemed to be his advisor and I think she was with the psycho who wanted to kill me. The other two, Barbie and Hulk didn't seem quite so central. Hulk was scary because he was huge and I think maybe Barbie had some kind of superpower like Statue of Liberty because they kept her around even though she seemed to piss them off. To be honest, I think she'd piss me off too.

It was also on this occasion, that I found out what I looked like.

You see, I had never seen my reflection in anything more than a shop window since I was changed. Looks hadn't really mattered to Riley, nor any of the others for that matter. Yeah, we were all pretty, but who gave a shit when you burned like that?

Anyway, beautiful was something I had never been, and had never really wanted to be…until I met Diego. He had been truly beautiful, inside and out.

I was slightly surprised, therefore, at the jerk of recognition that came as I spotted a piece of paper on a desk in one of the upstairs rooms, some kind of library it looked like. As I stared at the picture, I felt my ski-slope forehead crease. There was something familiar about…

I scuttled forward, abandoning for a moment my slow caution, and leapt from the highest branch of the tree I was hiding in, landing on the roof of the Yellow-eyes' house. I froze as my newborn brain caught up with my limbs, cursing myself for my boldness, but there was no sign of any of the yellow-eyed bastards…

…Sooooo I decided for the sake of curiosity to have a good snoop at their stuff.

Slowly _slowly,_ I eased myself down the wall and peered through the window, feeling my skin blend like oil paint into the white wall.

Triumphant, I collected my prize - I looked at the drawing.

And it was _me._

That…that was _me…Bree_. I recognised the shirt rather than the face, which looked much healthier than it had done as a human.

I looked at my face as this Yellow-Eyes had seen it. Had I really looked that scared? I hoped not. It wasn't particularly impressive, hell, even _I_ would have wanted to execute somebody that looked at me that pathetically.

I titled my head a little to study the artwork, and it was good, mind you. Whoever it was had put a lot of care into their work and I'll admit I was actually a little touched that somebody had cared enough to remember what I looked like.

Just a little touched, though. It was still creepy as hell.

With a frantic dart of the head, I checked the coast was clear (just a habit from the time before my perfected sense of smell) and inched across the wall to reach their balcony and to my astonishment, the door was actually open. _Open!_

Seriously, did these vampires not fear attack?

Risking giving the air a sniff, I could tell that it was just the blonde female and the big dark-haired male in the house, while the caramel-haired female was outside. That was good enough for me.

I opened the door carefully, letting it swing a little as if the wind had caught it and darted inside the house. Taking one awed gaze around the room before the wind did catch the door, and slammed it shut.

Locking me in.

 _Shit._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I'd always loved reading, even as a human (at least, I was _pretty_ sure) and so I knew that every great story had a beginning, a middle and an end.

The moment the door slammed shut, I thought the end of my story had come. I cursed myself for my recklessness. I would die for my own stupidity, even after all I'd got myself through.

But no, this was just the middle.

The middle is usually where things start to go wrong.

"Will somebody _please_ remind our _dear_ brother to close…the fucking…doors."

My head whipped around at the sound of Barbie's voice from downstairs and I smeared myself against the wall. I acted not a moment too soon as immediately the golden whirlwind stormed into the room to put the latch on the patio door…where she stopped, and stood very still…

…Having seen the two dirty converse footprints on the carpet.

In that moment, I could have laughed at myself. That was so _elementary._ I was usually _waaaaaay_ more stealthy. Then again, in my defence, I'd never been in a place with cream carpets before.

"Emmett," the female breathed, quieter than a whisper.

As if hearing her thoughts, rather than her words, the big male appeared behind her. He must have known she was afraid.

"Babe?" he asked cautiously, then halting to sniff the air where no doubt my scent still lingered.

The blonde eyed him meaningfully and with deliberately calm movements she slipped a perfectly shiny cell phone from her designer pocket.

Selecting the number she wanted without breaking eye-contact with the male, who could have been her boyfriend…or maybe her chaperone (I was starting to get serious misgivings about this Yellow-eyes set-up), she whispered into the phone.

"Carlisle. It's Rose. I think you need to leave the hospital now. We have a… _little problem."_

There was no verbal reply, merely the impatient sound of a car door slamming.

"Where's Alice?" the blonde asked.

Second time lucky perhaps.

"Rose," said the leader from the other side of the phone. "You know I can't tell you that when you might have…listeners."

Oh, so he knew I was there, therefore I was known by all as the 'little problem'. Wow. Frankly I felt a little insulted.

"Carlisle," Rosalie said stiffly in the manor of someone too proud to show they were afraid. "There's only the three of us here. We need the others."

"Three of you?" asked the doctor.

"Esme's outside," replied Rose with the smallest flicker to the side of her mouth.

Now she'd get a reaction.

"All of you get out," ordered Dr Yellow-Eyes curtly. "Close all the doors. And Emmett, keep Esme safe."

And with that the call was terminated.

Rosalie turned to said 'Emmett'.

"Yeah, the hell she gets me," he growled, eyes narrowed wit protective instinct. "I gotta keep _you_ safe."

After a chaste kiss on the mouth, both vampires darted through the door to the outside, locking it behind them. These Yellow-eyes didn't hang about, that was for sure.

I then heard numerous other clicks around the house and felt the anxiety build as I allowed myself be trapped in. But what could I do? I was outnumbered, and I didn't feel like meeting the big male without invisibility, even if he did have a sense of humour.

Because he had to protect his girlfriend. And I don't know if there was a vampire on earth I wouldn't have slaughtered if Diego were in trouble. If he _had_ been in trouble, that is. But he _had_ been and I wasn't _there._ And now he was-

With a strange tearing feeling in my eyes, which I suspected was a rather pathetic vampiric attempt at crying, it made for a long wait as the forest outside the house filled up with vampires and wolves. And they were still there, long after the sun had gone down and the complaints about the denied access to the mobile phones…clothes… _grand pianos_ etc. left in the house (like, seriously people?), had been engulfed by silence as they waited for me to move, to drop the invisibility for _one_ second so the mindreader could detect me, for me to forget not to let out a single breath or to just lose it completely and beg them for forgiveness.

But I wasn't stupid. I wasn't one of them.

I'd never been rich, nor blonde and I sure as hell wouldn't fit in to their perfect life. I also disliked being pitied. And pity, apart from something of a sick fascination with something as lowly as me, may have made these Yellow-Eyes spare me. They could talk all they wanted about giving me a home here but yes, I have done the care system, and I know when adoption won't work out.

This was definitely one of those times. So yeah, I _would_ wait, even if that only meant the Yellow-eyes couldn't go inside for a week. Call me spiteful if you like.

However, spite was a good thing to focus on. Rather than thirst. The thirst that would kill me.

I cowered in the corner with my hands clasped against my throat, my mouth open in a silent scream of pain.

I was in so _much_ pain that I was sure I wouldn't be able to stay hidden for much longer so I decided I needed to move. This is what pain does to you, I know. It makes you crawl to the deepest darkest corner you can find and stay there.

Since the Yellow-eyes' home was a surprisingly deep-dark-corner-free zone, I found myself huddling in the garage.

The garage was sickeningly huge, and sickeningly filled with expensive cars. I didn't know my cars but I knew expensive cars looked like that.

What was there?

There was a red convertible in the corner with the bonnet up - it looked like someone was working on it. I think it was a BMW. Then there was a Jeep, next to that a black Mercedes and next to that, a silver Volvo.

And as time in the windowless room wore on and through my thirst overpowered me, that was all I could think. BMW, Jeep, Merc, Volvo.

BMW, Jeep, Merc, Volvo.

BMW, Jeep, Merc, Volvo.

BMW, Jeep-

"-Jesus. Four whole days because Rosalie seems a door open and overreacts. Bella has been so worried."

"Well why don't you go check on her again?" retorted Barbie's sharp voice to that of the mindreader. "For the fifteenth time today."

My very distinctly empty stomach flipped. They were in the house. Or were they? It was hard to tell through the delirium of thirst.

"Alice can't see the newborn's future when she in not visible," said Mindreader, in the infuriatingly urgent way he said most things. "So she can't see that Bella will be safe and I-"

"Oh just _fuck off, Edward!"_

Blondie's voice was getting shriller and shriller.

"She was _here!_ Emmett and I could have _died._ All for that human of yours."

"Rosalie! Language!" cried another voice, the nice one's voice. "You are upsetting Jasper!"

"I think we all need to calm down," said a voice I had heard only once, that of the tiny female. "And hunt. Jasper hasn't hunted in three days."

Three days! How did they think I felt then? I hadn't fed for nearly a week and a half! Privileged ass-holes!

"I agree," said Dr Psycho.

God forbid nobody found out what _his_ opinion was.

"Yeah," came the gravelly rumble of The Hulk. "And lay off Rose, you weren't there Handsome, so you can't tell us what we did wrong."

The mindreader gave a tremendous sigh. Really, you just couldn't get the staff these days.

"Emmett," he said, gracing the giant with a precious slither of his eternity of time. "How can you have _any_ idea how concerned I have been for Bella's safety?"

Hulk let out a peal of disbelieving laughter.

"Because Rosie's _my_ mate and she was just in danger."

Before Ginger could retort, the savage blonde decided to speak.

"We should have killed the newborn when we had the chance," he rasped in his southern accent. Texas, I would have guessed.

"Jasper," said the leader seriously. "Can you be sure that the newborn is not in this house?"

'Jasper' must have had to consider since there was a pause before he answered with "Yes, she would have been overcome with thirst by now and tried to get past us."

Apparently that was enough for the the other Yellow-Eyes as the house relaxed (after Mindreader had flounced out to see the human again), and soon the sounds of normal life (for which there few few for vampires) re-commenced. Somebody turned on the TV while they pattered around.

 _"…_ _The operators of the cruise line are still trying to determine the exact cause of the sinking that is presumed to have claimed over one hundred lives, with actual numbers hard to gauge since no bodies had been found…"_

After a shiver at the reminder of my last meal…and a sear from my throat as I tried to remember how long ago that actually _was,_ I was able to zone out for what I guessed to be a few hours until I heard the jingle of keys. Car keys.

"…My journals are still in the car," muttered the leader, almost sleepily and soon after that, I heard someone coming. To the garage.

Afraid to stay wedged in the corner as I was, I found myself scuttling up the wall and holding my breath, feeling the flutter in my skin that meant I was still hidden. I glanced down at my wrist to make sure. Yup.

I could smell my visitor, and caught easily the tang of the leader, the smell had clung to his clothes.

And then I was furious. All of me. My chest was furious. My hands were furious and most of all my _throat_ was furious.

I legitimately saw red and I was poised, ready to kill the evil bastard when he walked in.

And then he- _she_ did.

It was the other one. Caramel-haired _Mrs_ Yellow-Eyes.

I froze, the unexpected discovery pushing me a little off whack.

Despite my inner chaos, my camouflage remained impeccable, I'm proud to say, so she had no idea I was there as she pottered around, at human speed, looking through the boxes in the truck of the shiny black car.

After she had found what the leader wanted, with a satisfied little huff, she turned to the cupboards and started rummaging. What are you looking for? I thought, basking in the strange power my invisibility gave me. Who got to watch people with their guard completely down?

She softly scuffled through what looked like a box of tools until she found a nail and grinned at her success. The hunter had found its prey.

Humming slightly, she turned to go and…caught my scent.

I almost gasped. I had been so transfixed that I'd forgotten to cease my breathing. Though I was pretty sure she couldn't smell my skin she had smelt my _breath._

She froze and I was pleased to see that she looked afraid, as well she should. I'd never felt so powerful and my thirst was feeding my desire to capitalise on her sudden weakness.

Her big eyes darted around the room though she held herself perfectly still.

"Bree?" she whispered softly. "Is that you honey?"

I didn't move. I don't think I even thought, I was so determined to stay still.

"Bree, are you here?" she whispered, if possible even quieter.

I didn't answer but instead shifted infinitesimally, to prepare myself to spring. I had been rumbled. I needed to act.

I was planning how I'd do it. Quick, I thought, clean, but I knew in the moment I'd just have to roll with the instinct.

I stifled the growl and leaned in, but then she looked. Looked straight at me, _through_ me, even though I was still invisible to her. I stopped, because in that moment all I could see was my mom.

I stiffened. If my heart could beat, it would have been clenching with fear as I felt myself lost the predatory upper-hand. This target was soft, shameful almost. It would have been like killing the family's kitten. And I wasn't down for that.

"Bree," she breathed. "Please, talk to me. I can help you."

These were brave words, very brave and I began to feel more ashamed. And also slightly more trapped as it dawned on me that the others would have probably been waiting for her return.

So what to do? I could creep slowly out, invisible, but risk making a noise or I could drop the guise and leg it. I could feel the pressure pressing like an actual weight.

Fuck.

And I'll admit, I panicked. I dunno, maybe I just like to run but my body seemed to make the decision for me.

Thirst clouding my brain like a thick fog, I ever so gently crawled to right above the woman and braced myself for something very violent and very desperate which I know everyone will judge me for but hey! I was _scared,_ (and I was really starting to get a taste for villainy.)

It was a shame she had to look up. A shame she had to watch me fall towards her and a shame I wrenched her beautiful head from her shoulders.

An awful screeching sound rang out across the disproportionally sized garage and I knew that every vampire in the house had heard. And there came a roar, like nothing I'd ever heard. Because one of them had _felt_ it.

Like I said, the middle is where it all goes wrong.

 **Notes:**

So...what do y'all think? Please drop me a review if you feel like it :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A stared in horror at the rather smartly-dressed body that was lying on the floor. Her Bambi-eyes stared at me sadly as a straight out panicked. No, no…this couldn't be happening. They could but her back together though…right?

No, said Mrs Yellow-Eyes' corpse.

She looked like a shattered statue.

Holy. Fuckin. _Shit._

I never had seen a vampire lose a head before.

I had to run.

I bolted out of the garage up the steps, liquid with fear and sprinted straight out of one of the beautiful windows. And not a moment too soon because despite the murmurs of 'what's going on?' that I could barely hear through my head of bloodied cotton wool, there came the awful heart-wrenching sob…or was it a scream.

"NO! _ESME!"_

And I flew.

They were after me, the three younger males, the sons, not the…not _him._ And they were angry, if angry even covered it.

This wasn't a game anymore. I realised now that I had been playing with them, there had been a chance they'd let me go. But now, no. They were coming for the kill, and coming fast.

It was a beautiful summer's night, the night I was supposed to die again. The scarlet phoenix of the sunset had burnt out, leaving its egg, the heavy silver orb, to glint in the sky. The deep plum of the late-July evening was embroidered with silver stars, like crumbs on a picnic mat, as the end came for me with footprints like light rain.

Only the sound of the wind whipping through my hair reminded me of the chase, lightheaded as I was, and it seemed ironic after all the bloodshed of my short second life that my execution should take place in the middle of such peace.

Not a bird sang as the mindreader ghosted through the forest, hot on my trail and not a soul would mourn if…or more likely _when,_ he caught up to me.

But that's where I was wrong. Because out there, in the beautiful darkness, was somebody who _would._

And it's that somebody I have to thank for the disappearance of the grasping marble hands as my pursuers fell away to deal with another threat to their newly-shattered lives.

And so in a dream, death yet again fell away and I was left in the silence. Alone.

I saw not a soul as I walked. Not a vampire, not a wolf, not even a seagull, even though I had managed to find the sea. The arc of aching infinity above me blurred a little, like a van Gogh and I felt so light, as if I was about to fall up into it. And as I walked I though of Diego. I felt closer to him tonight than I had done since…

Since Riley had done to me exactly what I had just done to someone else.

And so I walked dreamily to the edge of the cliff and experimentally dipped a toe in to the void, as if daring the wind to carry me down - down to a death that a vampire could not die.

But that's not what Dr Yellow-Eyes saw.

The vampire watching silently and completely immobile saw perhaps what I couldn't: a child, a fifteen-maybe-it-was-sixteen-I-don't-remember year-old who read too many books and drew too many conclusions. A romantic pessimist, if that were possible. And as I jumped, as many years ago another young woman did, feeling a second of release before my body shattered the rocks below me, he smiled a strange smile, a smile those who knew him well would have identified as inspiration.

Because now Dr Yellow-Eyes knew exactly what to do with Bree Tanner.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I should have swum. Swum out in the Pacific to Russia, Australia _anywhere_ but Forks, Washington.

But yet I didn't. I really fucking should have. And why didn't I? Honestly, _I_ don't even know, but I have a feeling it was because I could sense Diego in the little cave that I spent the night in and if I ever left, I'd lose him there.

Could vampires spiral into depression? I guess so, well, at least, spending the night under water for the hell of it can't be an indication of good emotional health, can it?

But I would survive, right? I had to. For Diego.

But then I stopped treading water and let myself sink like a stone, the pain of his death crippling me. I had known him near enough a week. God only knows how long the doctor had known, who had been, I had chillingly realised, his _wife._

I deserved to die, die a _murderer,_ for what I had just done.

But somehow my body wouldn't let me give in.

With a snarl of frustration my head broke the surface of the pool, I guess Bree the Red-Eyes wouldn't give up. _Fucking Bree the Red-Eyes,_ I thought, _getting me in to all sorts of trouble and…oh…_

I'd smelt something.

Something _good._

Something… _edible._

I felt myself stiffen. Felt my brain untangle. My throat. That would be what would kill me.

I was.

So.

Thirsty.

So I swam to the shore and followed my own feet, weird as it sounds, more zombie than vampire, until I came round with my fangs in a deer's neck.

I withdrew, an immeasurable unit of time later, a little startled, really a little disgusted, but _fed._

Absently, I wiped my sleeve across my mouth to clean it, smearing the blood, but I wasn't paying attention. I was looking for the next one.

Now _this_ was more like it. Not human, but blood none the less.

 _Why hadn't I tried this before?_ I wondered, though I actually hadn't seen a single animal, _big_ animal, since the wolves found me, but here one was. And I could smell another. It seemed my luck had turned.

Leaning into a crouch I sniffed the air and caught the slightly sour, but tangy scent of deer blood. My mouth felt like a whirlpool, my throat a magma chamber, dulled before I even registered the splashing of liquid in my mouth, being drawn into me as if by gravity.

Cold liquid.

With a growl the frenzy died a little and I noticed the flies buzzing around the carcass. The deer had been dead already. I was almost disgusted.

At this thought, I actually laughed. _That_ was my main concern? I was losing my mind. My entire life was a massive supernatural joke.

But now, at least, a very much less thirsty one.

I sniffed eagerly for any other animals.

It hadn't actually occurred to me that this might be an option, the vegetarian option.

I grinned at my own wit, elated by the newfound feeling of strength. The Yellow-Eyes weren't going to starve me just yet! Fuck them!

And the change in my diet marked the change in attitude. If I wanted to survive, I was going to be smart and now I had fed, I had more of a brain it seemed - time to plan.

If the Yellow-eyes were trying to starve me out, let them think that I had starved. I'd just hide until they got fed up of hunting me, called off their furry search party, and then BOOM, I'd be gone.

Until then I just had to hide, and not slip up, because I don't think the Yellow-Eyes took the loss of their own very well, didn't seem very accustomed to it. Not at all.

After the third and fourth deer (seriously, how fucking lucky was I?) I couldn't deny that my thirst was sated. Or sated enough. For now.

I also couldn't deny that I'd been in the same area for too long and the distant, though rapidly approaching, howls of the wolves told me that I had to move.

My blood frenzy had had me dashing from one corpse to another and now I was in a part of the forest that I didn't recognise.

Interesting.

I sniffed around and caught the scents of a few of the Yellow-Eyes. If I wasn't mistaken the Hulk and the cowboy.

But the trails were from last night and had been dulled by the drizzle that I hadn't noticed.

I stopped, instinctively flickering into hiding so I could have a think. A plan, Bree. What's the plan? Truly, I didn't know. I supposed feeling sorry for myself was an option, but that wouldn't do.

So I just sat, summoned my camouflage and wrapped it around myself like a blanket, climbed the nearest tree and just…waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

…And…nothing…

I sniffed experimentally but caught no scent of any other living thing in the area.

Weird. Real weird.

But good.

Twilight had set in and the flapping of bats lulled me into the closest thing to sleep I think a vampire can get, a kind of calm stupor that creeps in at the rare moment when nothing is trying to kill you. I leant back.

They're in mourning, I thought. That's why nothing's here.

And despite my luck, I felt bad.

Bad enough to find myself moving, just as something to do.

I was sure that this area was a new addition to my doughnut of space - or else I had never been here.

It was an interesting patch with lots of little gushing streams, and somewhere that looked like a disused quarry.

Unable to stop my wandering, I came to a cottage, quite unexpectedly, really, as it was nestled away in the woods. It was cute, I guess.

And despite all, my first though was the possibility of a shower - that's how weird my mood was.

However, not being a complete fool I gave the air a customary sniff, and a good thing too since the scent of Dr Yellow-Eyes hit me. I shrank back, fluttering into invisibility as, like an idiot, I crept forwards.

Because a part of me needed to see what I had done.

The sight that met me through the window did not disappoint.

The building was small, but the room that I peeked into was carefully furnished and mounted on the walls were many artworks, all with the same scarily-real style that I remembered from my own portrait.

I guess the place could have been cozy - it had a definite 'woman's touch' to it. And then there was Dr Yellow-Eyes, and I realised.

This had been _their_ place. And now he was there alone.

He was a fucking mess.

Not physically, of course. His dress was impeccable, not a hair out of place, yet everything was wrong, it was like I could feel that guy falling apart.

The golden-haired vampire knelt, immobile, before a wooden cross on the wall. The cross looked old, like, real old, but I couldn't tell without being able to smell it. The immortal creature was silent as he studied the floorboards intently, searching desperately for the answer to his question: why?

I'd never been religious myself, but sometimes I wish I were. Then the answer to 'why was my wife murdered?' would be 'because God has a plan' rather than 'some dumb-ass newborn Red-Eyes doesn't'.

See? Much more satisfying.

Dr Yellow-Eyes placed the Bible that he had been clutching to his chest gently on the floor beside him. The book looked ancient and I found myself wondering how old Dr Yellow-Eyes was himself.

"Our Father," he began, trembling with reverence. "Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

He took a long and unneeded breath. It seemed his calm was cracking.

"Give us this day our daily bread…and…."

The shaking increased.

"…And forgive us our trespasses as…" Dr Yellow-Eyes rasped desperately. "As we…as we forgive…"

The trembling overcame him and with a snarl of emotion, the vampire wrenched the wooden cross from the wall and mashed it into his own chest in a kind of sick mimicry of a stake. A stake, of course, that was ineffective.

His perfect pallid fist hit the wall but with perfect control, not smashing it as the fist so easily could, and the vampire stood immobile for a long time, allowing his fingers to unfurl gently. He couldn't destroy anything that _she_ had created.

He tried to continue.

"A-as we forgive those who…"

Dr Yellow-Eyes' chest was heaving. He'd found something he couldn't forgive.

He looked at the splinters of holy wood in his hands.

"Forgive me, Father," he murmured before angrily striding away, rubbing his hand over his face in a gesture which seemed unnaturally human.

Despite my fear, despite my _hatred_ for the Yellow-Eyes, I felt terrible.

Like really awful. So much so, that at first I thought it was a hallucination when sweet Mrs Yellow Eyes gently crept into the room and tenderly prised the granite hand from her husband's face.

Like, what the fuck? Was I _sane?_

"Sweetheart," she whispered, almost too quietly for me to hear. "Please - I hate to see you like this."

He laughed humourlessly.

"And I hate to be this way," he replied hollowly.

I was gobsmacked.

So…she _didn't_ die? That's…great! Wow! Thank God for that! But what…

…If it wasn't Mrs Yellow-Eyes' death that had Dr Yellow-Eyes in a state then…what? He sure was one hell of an angsty fellow, in any case.

"Darling…" Mrs Yellow-Eyes implored, following the dipping of his face to try to see his eyes.

Silence. Then what sounded like a sob.

"I almost lost you, Esme," he admitted, finally giving in, trapping her against him. "And I broke my promise. I promised I'd never let anyone hurt you ever again."

"Carlisle," she whispered, a laugh in her voice. "You _have_ kept that promise. _Always."_

She looked down for a moment, as if deciding if she should actually say what she wanted to say next.

She opened her mouth. All steam ahead.

"And I…I promised…to forget," she said quietly. "To accept what I'll never have. But it seems I can't. It's me that's got us into this mess."

She looked at him beseechingly.

"No," he replied, knowing what the correct response to this was.

Maybe it was a popular topic.

"We couldn't have let them…"

They looked into each other's eyes. It seemed words would not be necessary.

What the hell were they talking about? I thought couples were supposed to finish each other's sentences, not leave every sentence unfinished. This was driving me _nuts._

"…She's just a child," he finished, finally.

Oh, so they were talking about me. Figures.

"Really I'm glad," Mrs Yellow-Eyes whispered, burying her face under the lapels of his jacket. "I'm glad she ran."

Dr Yellow-Eyes chuckled incredulously. He almost sounded proud.

"After what she did to you, Esme?" he asked, the arms around her tightening automatically. "You can still say that?"

He laughed softly and cuddled her closer still. Could she even breathe?

"Hopeless," he murmured against her ear.

"Carlisle," continued Mrs Yellow-Eyes seriously. "She looked so _scared._ And so _thirsty._ She's only young. I hate what we're doing to her."

I leant forwards interestedly. What _were_ they doing to me? Trapping me? Is that what she meant?

Mrs Yellow-Eyes' voice suddenly dropped lower. So low that I had to strain to hear her through the glass.

"And the Volturi?" she breathed.

Her husband stiffened, as did I.

What the hell was a _Volturi?_

"Esme, they have been planning war against us for years, we've both suspected but now…"

Dr Yellow-eyes sighed. I was sure this one one of those times he didn't want to be the leader.

"The fact that Jane and three of the guard have been thwarted by a newborn has been seen as a major blow for the Volturi, a _humiliation,"_ he explained.

So…the Volturi was the Dark-Cloaks? Oh! Somehow it hadn't occurred to me that their organisation might have an actual name. I mean, it was a stupid-ass name, but anyhow…

"But honey," said Mrs Yellow-Eyes carefully. "If we err…"

She searched for the nicest word.

"… _Defeat_ Bree, but they couldn't, wouldn't that just prove our supremacy?"

Dr Yellow Eyes paused. There was some sense in that.

"We can't hurt her, Carlisle, or it seems like we are out-doing them," Mrs Yellow-Eyes gushed. "And Carlisle, I don't feel happy about tomorrow - we shouldn't do it. It's too dangerous."

He laughed a little desperately,.

"It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice. And as usual Bella can't be persuaded otherwise. She's convinced she's the only one who can help."

Mrs Yellow-Eyes gave a frustrated huff.

"Bella, Bella, Bella…" she muttered, troubled.

"But I agree, he said solemnly. "It feels like I'm tuning my back on everything I believe in."

They both turned to look at the broken cross and considered the symbolism. There was no turning back for the Yellow-Eyes now.

What the _hell_ were they planning?

There was a rather long silence, broken at last by Mrs Yellow-Eyes whose voice had taken on a rather different tone.

"Carlisle…" she began slowly, measuredly. "I understand you're not in the mood to be comforted but…please…"

Without breaking eye-contact for an instant, her hand crept lovingly to the buckle of his expensive belt and-

SWEET _JESUS!_

Without further ado, it was most definitely time for Bree to leave.

I turned and sprinted away from the little cottage with my stomach churning, either from what I'd nearly seen or the promise of what would happen _tomorrow._

The thing the Yellow-Eyes were planning to do to me that couldn't be forgiven.

 **Notes:**

Hey guys! Thank you for reading! If you have a moment, please comment with your thoughts on how this is going :) (And yeah, I hate killing off characters. I just couldn't do it. So Esme's back.)


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

The problem with never sleeping is never knowing when tomorrow becomes today. I was guessing soon.

If I could bite my nails they would have been chewed off by now, I felt so anxious and the ball of nausea had not gone away - rather intensified to the point that I could barely run. What the hell was going on?

The feeling finally tipped me over the edge.

I fell onto my hands and knees, retching, though nothing came up.

The blood! After all that, I had managed to _poison_ myself?

But then it passed, like the sun coming out again on a blustery spring day, and I could breathe properly. And think properly.

My first sane thought went to Mrs Yellow-Eyes, who was _very_ much alive, and though I was relieved beyond communication, it worried me. It worried me because I had thought I knew what was going on, where I stood but now it felt as if I had no control.

As dawn broke, again, eerily quiet, I was still wandering, using all my senses to provide a clue to what was going to happen tomorr- _today._

I did have a slight suspicion that they had evacuated the wildlife and were going to set the whole fucking forest on fire. Because now I realised that's how a vampire died, and how Mrs Yellow-Eyes didn't - I didn't burn her.

It would be very _Hunger Games._ Yeah. And now brave Katniss Tanner continued to hide in the forest (minus her bow and arrow, like, how the fuck would I make one of them?) until she found her Peeta. But her Peeta was already dead.

I was on the floor. I was crying.

Bree, I thought desperately. Bree this has to stop happening. You. Will. Die.

I cast my eyes despairingly to the forest canopy - so distant from the bleak city scape where Diego and I shared our first and only few days together.

It sounds so meaningless.

But he was everything.

 _Everything._

It was so strange how in these woods he felt so close.

I rubbed my hand over my face angrily, a remnant habit from the murky time when there would have been tears there.

I'll be with you soon Diego, I thought darkly.

I took a deep breath in to compose myself and-

 _HOLY FUCKING SHIT!_

My head snapped up as the breeze carried a scent to me. Directly to me. To _me._ It was _mine._ It was… _the human._

I was on my feet. I was far away from where I had been standing. I wasn't camouflaged. T-there wasn't time for that. This was urgent!

She was close.

She was bleeding.

I was coming.

She was _dead._

My throat burned again, my consciousness evaporated and the hunt was fucking _on_ baby!

I can't very well recall where I ran to but I ended up in the massive clearing where the Red-and-Yellow-Eyes had originally fought a fortnight ago.

If my brain had been working, that would have seemed like a pretty fucking bad sign. And I would have bunked, but it wasn't, so I didn't. Just like they knew I wouldn't.

She was it. The scent that launched a thousand ships. The scent that drew twenty newborn vampires to their destruction on this very field.

And there she was.

I skidded to a halt when she was about two hundred yards away. Slow, weak, human, alone. Mine.

Some voice was screaming at me that this was wrong, too easy, like hello? But still I could help myself I was moving closer….closer…

The nausea struck like an iron fist in my gut, halting me completely. Damn near flooring me.

And suddenly the human's blood didn't seem so nice at all.

 _Diego's smiling at me…we're hand in hand, walking back to the house. We're taking about Riley. Diego's still alive._

 _"_ _You don't want to think he's bad?" I ask._

 _"_ _No, he's kind of my friend, not like_ _you're_ _my friend," Diego added quickly, giving my clasped hand a squeeze._

 _God, he's beautiful._

 _"…_ _I should tell him when we're alone…"_

 _Diego's talking about our discovery. We don't burn in the sunlight._

 _"…_ _Grab him at dawn, when he's coming back from wherever it is he goes…"_

 _"_ _Ninja attack at dawn!" I laugh._

 _We're both laughing. Seriously, that boy could make me laugh,_

 _Ninja attack at dawn…ninja attack at…shit!_

Motherfucker.

Bree was back. Bree was alert. And Bree was fucking kicking herself.

I raced back the way I had come, leaving the human looking…well, really rather insulted actually, I bet she'd never had a vampire gag at the smell of her blood before.

I hoped I wasn't too late.

But of course I was.

The forest came alive.

I hadn't been in the right place, the nausea and Diego's words had stopped me before I got close enough to the human for the Yellow-Eyes to attack me. But _fuck me_ were they close behind me now.

I heard the snarling of wolves and the snappy commands of the Yellow-Eyes, mostly the doctor and the cowboy.

"Rosalie! Left flank!"

"Keep her going! She needs to be still to camouflage."

"Alice get ahead!"

"Emmett stay wide!"

Like a flock of impossibly fast birds, we flew through the forest. Bree against the world, except the world knew this part of the woods, and I didn't. They'd never let me here before.

And for good reason. Because I would have known they were herding me into a trap.

I came to the cliff face quickly - damn near ran into the thing - and automatically started climbing. And then automatically stopped, as a row of snarling wolf head appeared above me.

Luckily, I was able to camouflage quickly, before the rest of the Yellow-Eyes arrived, but it wouldn't help me too much because an instant later there they all were - in full Yellow-Eyed, high-minded, intellectual splendour.

…And it was… _hilarious._

The gathered group of vampires were all dressed identically in - I shit you not - _black, fitted combat outfits._

What. The actual. Fuck.

The dress code had clearly been received with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Dr Yellow-Eyes looked comfortable enough but he was the kind of guy who had the confidence to address the UN dressed as Big Bird. However, there was a slight hunch to his shoulders that hinted the garment was too small. Obviously the appropriate degree of tailoring had not been achieved.

Beside the leader was Hulk. The Hulk seemed like the kind of guy who cared little how he looked but at that moment but it seemed that the tight, probably rather expensive garment was hampering his movements a little.

Contrastingly, Cowboy looked comfortable in uniform, if he could ever actually look comfortable.

Barbie, as usual, looked extremely fucked-off and kept re-adjusting the chest of the jacket, probably regretting wearing the push-up bra on fight day.

Mrs Yellow-Eyes was hard to see because she was dithering behind her husband as if wondering if she should ask if anyone wanted her to hold their jacket while they ripped me to bits.

Tiny was blissfully… _rockin'_ the outfit, so obviously the group monstrosity was her idea. They must like her a lot, or decided that it was more trouble than it was worth to refuse to wear what she said on the grounds that it was embarrassing to go out dressed like the fucking _PowerRangers._

I could have _pissed_ myself laughing.

Jees, what would _Diego_ have said?

Mindreader and the human were playing the part of 'the civilians' and were dressed normally, if you could call Mindreader's jacket normal.

Ass-hole.

He then smirked a very Mind-Reader-esque smirk, the kind of smirk that makes every self-respecting sentient being want to punch that person's _lights_ out, seeing how well I was cornered.

After Dr Yellow-Eyes, I hated him the most, though Dr Yellow-Eyes seemed determined to hold his title. He just _had_ to make a speech, didn't he?

"Bree," said Dr Yellow-Eyes, perfectly collected. "I know you're here."

He gazed along the cliff, his eyes resting on my (hopefully) invisible form for a pounding moment.

"I was prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt," he continued, accompanied by the rapt attention of his coven. "…Prepared to let you dither back and fourth and make your own way to us…"

He turned to look at Mrs Yellow-Eyes.

 _See? Just like I told you, darling._

His head snapped back again.

"But Bree, now you are hurting people."

If anyone had asked me, this Yellow-Eyed vampire had aways scared me the most. He had a kind of air about him that social workers had. They told you it would be fine, and kept repeating this even as your would fell apart. He was sinister and I hated him. And you know what? I was glad I got his 'woman' before he got me, even if I did fail miserably.

"Bree," he continued, as if demonstrating again that he knew my name. "What happened in the garage is unacceptable,"

Only the smallest balling of his fist betrayed just how 'unacceptable' he had found it.

"But we can teach you to control yourself."

He took a breath and looked around. Not everyone looked thrilled by this prospect.

But his wife was.

"And Bree," the ass-hole continued. "As you no doubt have noticed-"

Ooooh, I could feel the sarcastic remark bubbling inside me. Don't say it, Bree. Don't say it.

"My wife, Esme, is alive and well. And it is actually by her grace that we have spared your life. And that's _twice_ now. So I'd just think about that one if I were you."

Well you're not me, are you? And count yourself fucking lucky you privileged, Aryan son-of-a-

"Bree, we won't hurt you if you come to us peacefully," he declared on behalf of the others. "We _do_ know where you are but we'd rather you came to us."

Oh fucking typical. I mean, really?

This was just like in elementary school when teachers would tell the class that they already knew who stole the fucking board rubber to trick them into apologising…so they'd find out who it was.

And then punish them.

Seriously, why did everyone keep treating me like I was stupid?

"Bree," he said.

Despite his outer calm he was getting angry, I could tell. Perhaps there was a nice juicy hip-replacement he wanted to get away in time for. Nothing like feeding off little old ladies under anaesthesia.

Psycho.

"Bree, this can't go on. I must say, my patience is fraying a little," he said impatiently. "You are pushing our family to the limit. I will give you twenty seconds to drop your defence and _walk_ towards up with your hands up. Otherwise I'm afraid we'll have to come to you which I suspect would end up being less pleasant."

He took a breath and glanced up at the wolves poised above me. Be ready.

"Twenty," he said. "Nineteen."

Counting. You _fucking_ with me?

"Eighteen…"

It was tense. Real tense. All hail the fucking countdown.

"…Thirteen…"

It was as if I couldn't hear him, I just watched in a state of shock as the Hulk and Cowboy prepared to spring.

But something wasn't right with the gathered group. What was it?

"…Eight…"

No seriously, what?"

My instinct prickled. Maybe it was because all the gathered vampires had chosen to stare warily at a central point of the cliff, assuming that's where I would be, so I felt that there was a threat beside me. Maybe. But no, that wasn't quite it.

"Five…"

I looked at all the faces in turn, practically all fixed in silent snarls. All but the human who…

The human was looking straight at me. Looking me dead in the eye.

"Three…two…"

And I realised that she could see me. Of _course_ she could fucking see me.

The way things worked in my life, why ever _wouldn't_ she be able to see me?

"And one."

My time was up.

I hadn't complied.

Dr Psycho turned expectantly to the human pet. Her moment of glory at last.

"Edward," I heard her whisper to the redhead.

She extended a shaking finger in my direction.

"She's there."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes:**

Thank you to anyone who is still reading! And special thanks to nickaroos, Stawberryfield and kessy63 for your reviews!

On with the chapter!

 **Chapter 8**

So, all in all, I guess they were pretty decent about the whole thing. Hulk didn't pull too hard, Psycho Cowboy didn't punch me in the gut too many times and Dr Yellow-Eyes didn't make too many 'I told you so' comments.

They loaded me, writhing and hissing like a snake, into one of their…sorry, but rather _unnecessary_ cars, and that was pretty much it.

It was okay.

Actually…that's not true.

It wasn't okay at all.

And the real reason for this was the human.

That _fucking_ human.

Shamelessly, she _gawped_ at me throughout the whole performance, with the kind of judging gawp that strips you of all your dignity and makes you relive some of your…favourite high school experiences. That look, not of pity but of fascination (…like how anyone could be such a _mess?)_ was the one that haunts the homeless and belittles the bullied. And I had been both.

And now this…this _Dementor_ had been sent to bring it all back.

I was ashamed. I was also angry.

"It's not my fucking fault!" I wanted to scream at her. "You don't know anything about me! What I have to suffer!"

And as Cowboy loaded me into the car, he followed my gaze catching the human's muddy eyes then my own and, weirdly enough, in his face I saw a flicker of something I'd never find there: empathy.

And after that rather fleeting moment of camaraderie, we hit the road.

I was in the 'boy's car' - a muddy and slightly dented Jeep with baseball bats in the back.

Thug life, indeed.

Both Cowboy and Hulk had their hands on my shoulder keeping me in place and I felt strangely content, almost artificially so. Well, I felt _calm,_ at least. So calm that the outline of Dr Asshole at the wheel seemed a little blurry. But maybe that was the nausea.

"Sheesh," said Hulk suddenly and quite breathily, breaking the silence. "Shouldn't have drunk so much last night - that's done me no favours. Seriously, Carlisle, what the hell is happening to us?"

"I don't know," Hulk's leader replied simply. "And I wish I did. The town is in chaos. I told them it was most likely a gas leak and for once I didn't have to pretend I was ill too."

Dr Yellow-Eyes gave a dry smile.

"Right what we need just now," Hulk replied glancing at me.

"I…doubt the two events are…unrelated," Dr Yellow-Eyes muttered, nursing his own, presumably upset, stomach with his free hand. "Bella is unaffected…"

"This isn't me," I said, sounding a little fuzzy.

I didn't want to be blamed for any more shit.

Cowboy gave me a shove. No talking!

"We didn't think it was Bree," Dr Yellow-Eyes replied, in the manor you might use to address one of your children's school friends that you didn't know very well and hadn't heard good reports about. "So we were wondering if there was anyone you could think of that might have come looking for you."

Looking for me? Like my dad? Like _Diego?_

I cringed. My heart hurt.

"No," I rasped.

And even to my own ears that sounded sad.

"Okay then," continued Dr Yellow-Eyes, who really was very much the doctor now as he scrutinised me with a furrowed brow in the rear-view mirror. "Thank you, Bree."

I was angry to see he looked sorry for me. Or as sorry for me as a psychopath could be which, by definition, wasn't an awful lot.

"Bree," he continued, struck be inspiration. "If I may ask…were you in a mated pair before this? So you had a…what would you call it these days? Special someone?"

I thought of Diego and it felt like my chest exploded.

Diego tortured. Diego burning. Diego dead.

Beside me Cowboy stiffened.

"Did have," he answered quietly on my behalf.

(And how the fuck did he know? Was he a mindreader too?)

Dr Yellow-Eyes let out a slow breath of understanding.

"Bree, I'm so sorry to ask, but was he or she among those newborns that we killed?"

 _And did you try to kill my mate because I killed yours?_ I finished in my head, seeing where he was coming from.

I shook my head.

"N-no. He didn't…"

I couldn't even remember the words I needed to explain what happened to him.

"R-Riley and Victoria they…"

I felt my eyes screw up awkwardly. Oh great. now I was gonna _cry_ in front of these assholes?

"…They r-really hurt him and then they…"

I couldn't keep talking.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Bree," said Dr Yellow-Eyes professionally as I felt myself trembling.

I barely heard him. Beside me, Cowboy was shaking too.

"Bree," he continued, again with the over-use of my name. "Can you describe to me what this vampire looked or smelled like? We need to know-"

"Carlisle that's enough!" shouted Psycho, his hand vanishing from my shoulder as I jumped.

Dr Yellow-Eyes held up his hand in surrender.

"As you wish, Jasper, I'm sorry."

We sat in silence for a few hundred yards, all feeling sad, and all feeling sick.

Hulk was feeling the most sick.

"Guyyyyyys," he moaned. "Pull over, I need to throw up!"

Still sulking, I expect, from his telling-off, Dr Yellow-Eyes obeyed though his expression changed from brooding to panicked the second blood started pouring from Hulk's mouth.

"Emmett!" Dr Yellow-Eyes cried. "My Goodness! What's happening?"

Why don't you tell us? I thought sourly as I felt the acrid mixture of nausea and grief in my stomach. You're the fucking doctor.

"Need to lay of the beers," Hulk joked thickly as another slash of red hit the asphalt.

The blood smelled sour - more like animal blood. Must be the sickness.

"Emmett," the doctor, who may I add was just watching, muttered, concerned as he studied the vomit.

It seemed like the Yellow-Eyes didn't know vampires could get sick either.

"Let's get you back to Rose," Cowboy suggested patting Hulk on the enormous shoulder.

"Yes," said Dr Yellow-Eyes, turning back to the vehicle, though he turned to give me an odd look before he opened his door.

The rest of the drive was taut with worry and it was almost a relief as I watched the big house, which had been my prison not so long ago, loom into view to become so again.

Inside, I could hear the others talking agitatedly, wondering what had kept us before they rushed outside to seize the Hulk (affectionately) and me (perhaps less affectionately) and lead us inside.

Welcome home.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

My place was the kitchen (I think because of the wipe-clean floor - I wasn't the cleanest of Red-Eyes, I'll admit) and I had to be watched by two different guards. The drawers of the two shortest straws happened to be Cowboy and Barbie, the latter who looked at me waspishly and who, I assumed, would much rather be with the Hulk than watching me.

Because, actually, from what I could gather, the Hulk was in pretty bad shape.

I could hear him groaning and vomiting from upstairs. I could also hear the council between Dr Yellow-Eyes and Mindreader in the room beside him. 'The Newborn' was obviously _so_ dense that they didn't bother to keep their voices down.

"She's glad Esme is alive," muttered Mindreader, who had the air of an expert mutterer. "It was an accident, she didn't mean it."

Dr Psycho sighed.

"I suspected as much."

Did you, now?

"And I do admit though that I may have overreacted a little," he continued. "As you can understand."

I could understand that one too.

"Of course," Mindreader cut in swiftly. "Her gift makes this all a little tricky…"

Dr Asshole sighed.

"Yes…" he murmured. "The gift."

He took another breath. Here comes the lecture.

"We have to keep her here until the Volturi arrive," he said to his second-in-command, as I imagined a look of rapt attention on his face. "They want to speak with her. Aro is coming himself. He seems very interested in her, thinks she might be an asset to them."

"But either way…" Mindreader began.

"Either way I won't be able to be at the hospital for those who need me. I'm not sure if the sickness could be fatal to humans."

Well bless your heart, Dr Yellow-Eyes!

"And Bella is safe?" he asked Mindreader.

I fucking hoped not. Fucking Bella.

Interestingly enough, the faces of Barbie and Cowboy opposite me seemed to mirror my thought. Barbie gave a huff.

"Yes, the wolves are happy to take care of her…" Mindreader said, sounding a little angry in a silky way. "A little _too_ happy, perhaps."

"Well, La Push is probably the best place for her to be right now," said Dr Douchebag tiredly. "What with the new…development."

Should I have cared about this development? Yes. Did I? Not particularly. I was too busy feeling sick and wishing her far, far away. The very memory of her scent was making my stomach turn.

There was a sudden silence from upstairs.

"Edward?" Dr Yellow-Eyes asked.

"Sorry Carlisle…the Newborn just had a very interesting thought."

They both appeared.

Oh joy upon joy!

"Bree," Mindreader said urgently. "Why does Bella's blood repulse you?"

I felt like the roll of nausea at the mention of her name served as answer enough.

"I don't know," I said thickly. "Makes me feel like shit."

Mindreader dismissed Barbie so he could question me.

She didn't seem to care.

"Now Bree," he continued. "I need you to tell me everything you have discovered about your ability."

I didn't really fancy doing that, actually. Without my hands bound and the bright light in my eyes that they had been too lazy to set up, I wasn't saying a word.

To my disgust, Mindreader threw back his very annoyingly hair-styled head and laughed.

Get the fuck out of my head, Mindreader! Don't you fucking laugh at me you little bitch!

He chuckled.

 _"_ _Mindreader,"_ he said with a smirk. "I've heard that a few times in your head, Bree. My name is Edward, Bree, _Edward."_

"Hi _Edward,"_ I said as sarcastically as I could.

"This is Jasper," he said, choosing to ignore my tone as he gestured to Cowboy who looked unimpressed. "Not Cowboy."

"And I'm Carlisle," said a very smiley Dr Yellow-Eyes, holding out his hand.

Huh! As if I would shake that!

So-called 'Edward' chortled.

"Your name is 'Dr Yellow-Eyes' as far as Bree is concerned, Carlisle!" he gleefully informed his leader.

They laughed while so-called 'Jasper' and I scowled.

"And," continued… _Edward._ "Rosalie is 'Barbie'…"

There came a hiss from upstairs. Fuck you too.

"Emmett is 'Hulk'…"

Hulk's booming laugh came in response. Guess he didn't mind.

"Alice is 'Pixie'…"

As if on cue, the tiny girl appeared, her run ending in a little skid, as if she knew that we were going to be talking about her.

"And Esme is 'Mrs Yellow-Eyes'," Edward finished.

"Gold, _surely?"_ murmured Dr Y- _Carlisle_ as she crept tentatively into the room and bowed her head, pleased.

Oh yes. Very good. Smooth line.

"Well you call me 'The Newborn'," I said angrily. "So it's only fair."

"But now we know each other," said Dr Y- _Carlisle_ in a friendly way. "So we can use names. And our surname is Cullen, if you didn't know. What's your surname, Bree?"

I didn't answer.

Before Mind-gah!- _Edward_ could kindly unburden me of the answer, Pix- _Alice_ exploded into speech.

"Well I think that's awesome!"

I stared at her.

What the fuck was wrong with that kid?

"…Like you and me…Alice is gifted," Edward explained as I took in her manic expression with barely-concealed mistrust.

Gifted, huh?

"And I think that naming us after our characteristics is great too!" she continued.

"Like the Smurfs," Mrs…er… _Esme_ added helpfully.

Like…the fucking… _Smurfs?_

Alice chuckled.

"Yeah! Doctor Cullen…Momma Cullen…"

She trailed off in a kind of dreamy way.

"Isn't that a Native American thing? Naming like that?" she added suddenly.

Mindreader smirked.

"I think they would need to evolve a few thousand years before I would adopt any of their practices," he said with an exaggerated examination of his spotless nails as he did so.

Whoa there! Are you even allowed to say that? What a _bitch_ that boy was!

"Edward," Carlisle said disapprovingly. "Don't force your prejudices upon Bree, the wolves have been very co-operative."

"The wolves?" I found myself saying.

Obviously my brain-to-mouth filter had officially broken and, well, let's face it, it had been on it's way out for a while. _Ohhhh_ those _fucking_ wolves!

"Jesus. So, what, every one of them had the name 'Disgusting Mangy Animal'?"

To my horror, instead of offending the Ye- _Cullens_ as I had hoped, my comment made them _laugh,_ Alice even clapped her little hands with delight.

Own goal.

"Hey! Welcome to the family!" boomed Hulk from upstairs over the tinkling laugh of B- _Rosalie._

It seemed I'd managed to cheer him up a little.

Even Carlisle had cracked the smallest of grudging smiles at my rudeness towards their furry allies.

Fine. So I'd be the court jester. Cool. So long as I could get the hell out of-

Alice was advancing towards me with a greedy smile. Whoa, _whoa_ …what's happening?

"Alice," Jasper said with a frown, seemingly as worried as I was.

"Don't worry Jaz," she said, now strangely focused. "We'll be good friends in no time!"

And for some odd fucking reason, that was enough for the Cullens because they let Alice take me by the arm and lead me upstairs.

"C'mon Bree," she said eagerly, as Cowboy, I mean, _Jasper,_ followed a slightly _less_ than respectful distance behind us. "Let's get you cleaned up!

And by cleaned up, she meant _tortured._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Alice's bathroom was perhaps a little too large, and she a little too enthusiastic. She seemed like the kind of person who's energy and _stuff_ would expand to fill any available space. And boy, did she have a lot of both.

I stood awkwardly in one of the strangest… _fullest_ rooms I had ever been in as she explained how the shower worked and where the towels were and how absolutely lovely it was that we would be sharing a bathroom when the family next moved house.

I had reservations about this one, I seriously did.

"Alright then!" she said happily once the onslaught had subsided.

And waited.

Neither she or Jasper seemed like they were going to move and give me some privacy.

"So what?" I asked. "I strip off while you watch, is this how it goes?"

Jasper looked abashed.

"Why, sorry ma'am," he said. "I did not wish to be improper. I will leave you ladies in peace."

He seemed hesitant to leave Alice alone with me but she waved him away confidently.

"Don't worry Jasper!" she exclaimed. "I'll be fine!"

But will _I_ be fine? I wondered as Alice jabbered away over the sound of the shower and handed me bottle after bottle of hair and skin products I was ninety percent sure would _not_ work on a vampire at all. At least she let me draw the curtain.

The strangeness of the situation was actually taking away the joy I imagined I'd feel if I ever got the chance to shower again.

Now, I hadn't ever, _ever_ been to a girly sleepover. Ever.

I'd done emergency sleepovers, though, many of them but they weren't quite like this.

Because this was pure girly bliss…for perhaps the more _girly_ of girls, but I really wasn't and so I had a very good idea of how painful this was going to be.

I dried myself off and accepted a stack of clothes from the tiny hands reaching around the doorway.

Dobby was a free elf!

…Buuuuut not yet.

"These were your favourites of all the ones we tried on," Alice explained while I decided she was completely insane.

I'd just roll with it.

I dressed awkwardly, taking care not to rip the fabric which was a lot softer than anything I'd ever worn.

I was wearing a light blue blouse overlaid with a beige cardigan and a pair of tapered pants in the same beige. I was handed trainer socks and some white, totally legit, converse shoes and told I looked very pretty.

Well, shit.

"Don't you want to see your reflection?" Alice asked enthusiastically as I stepped out from behind the dressing screen (er, yeah, a _dressing screen._ )

"Er…yeah, sure," I said pulling at the uncomfortably-fitted clothing.

I glanced quickly at my reflection in the huge gilt mirror, or pretended to at least, to appease my torturer and even managed a thin-lipped smile. I didn't want to know what I looked like. I might have even laughed.

"Thanks Alice…er…that's…super," I said, inching my way towards the door and my freedom from this hell.

But we weren't done yet! Oho no!

Apparently my hair was a mess, and was not appropriate.

"Oh you have such lovely long hair," Alice sighed. "I wish I had hair like yours."

She pointed listlessly to the spikes on her own head.

By now I'd sussed out that vampire hair never grew.

"Um…yours is nice too," I said politely.

For some reason I felt like I should be nice to Alice. Maybe it was because she looked so young, younger than me, even. I wracked my brains for something complementary to say.

"It's nice. Very…high fashion."

She laughed, clutching at her little belly.

"Yes but I can't _braid_ it," she argued.

She turned to my own head dreamily and platted the hair into an intricate sort of braid.

It's nearly done. I thought, squeezing my eyes shut as it pulled. Nearly over.

And then she had finished.

And it was nails time.

She tutted as she furiously scrubbed under my nails with the brush and produced an _emporium_ of nail polish.

I took a breath.

Someone's gonna have to cancel this kid's credit card.

In response, I heard Edward roar with laughter from downstairs.

"Just grin and bear it, Bree. It happens to the best of us," I heard him call as the tiny vampire scowled, whether in anger or concentration I didn't know.

So I did. And afterwards I was taken downstairs and paraded, purple nails and all, to the rest of the family. And do you know what? I didn't scream once.

"So pretty!" Mrs Cullen exclaimed, as if this might please me, which it didn't but I appreciated the effort.

Edward obviously had heard me and muted the TV for Dr Cullen to speak, the action drawing my attention to it.

I stared at the wreckage of the ship that was being brought up.

I had fed on that ship.

I had….I had…

Edward turned the TV off.

"Bree," Dr Cullen said, choosing to ignore my slightly horrified gaze, still trained on the blank screen. "I hope you're feeling better, I know Alice is very taken with you."

I didn't have any response.

"Bree, how about you make yourself comfortable," he tried, looking for signs of normality in my face. "Perhaps you could watch a movie with Alice?"

"Um, yeah," I said, eyes anxiously flicking about.

And then this guy…had the _nerve_ to put his goddamn _hand_ on my shoulder.

"Bree, listen, we all make mistakes," he said with a very _modest_ smile, which seemed to indicate he didn't think he'd made very many.

"Whatever you did in this life before now is forgiven, okay?" he said. "Poof! It's gone, as long as you promise to strive to do better, to conquer your nature. Do you think you can do that?"

I looked around the room for guidance.

"Um….yeah? I guess?" I said.

And yes, I could contain my nature. My eyes did not roll once.

A long as I didn't have to wear any of those stupid-ass matching outfits…

"Great," Mindreader grinned over the head of an ecstatic Mrs Cullen and a much less ecstatic Rosalie.

"Then, Bree, the house is yours to occupy yourself," beamed the doctor. "We trust _you_ and I hope you can learn to trust us too."

He stared at me very earnestly.

Get that movie on! This was too intense!

"Okay," I whispered.

"Now leave the kid alone!" boomed Emmett who seemed to be able to shout despite being so sick he couldn't move.

So Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie and I watched the Lord of the Rings.

…And it was the most….boring…fucking…thing…

I would start to feel thirsty…then I thought of the human and felt immediately sick…then there was some actual movement on screen…then the cycle would begin again.

I think I kind of zoned out. I didn't even notice the film ending or Alice and Jasper getting up to leave me to my stupor.

"Uuuugh," Emmett groaned after God knows how long, snapping me out of my own sickness for a while. "I feel like I'm _pregnant._ Honestly, I don't know why girls bother."

In response, Barbie gave him a look that could have frozen _argon_ and, crossing her arms tightly over her chest she stormed out of her room.

"Oh, sorry babe!" he called lamely.

"Emmett," Mrs Cullen declared defiantly after abandoning 'Good Housekeeping' to follow in Rosalie's wake. "If that was a joke, it was in poor taste."

She looked upset.

Shit, I hadn't even noticed her come in.

"And if it was an _attack_ then you can leave this house and be ill somewhere else!"

She stalked away daintily with her hand clasped over her poor little stomach.

"An attack? Wha…?"

Hulk turned to me.

"Hey, Bree, whadd'I say?"

I shrugged, and went to snaffle up the abandoned magazine.

"Dunno," I said as he watched me.

He continued to watch.

"Hey," I said when his scrutiny got distracting. "I can _read,_ believe it or not. No need to look so shocked."

"Nah, I'm just keeping an eye on you, making sure you don't attack us."

I raised an eyebrow.

"And I'm not stupid either," I said. "Besides, we trust each other in this house, remember?"

The sarcasm was evident. Obviously my control wasn't perfect yet, but Emmett chuckled.

"Never said you were stupid. And you have a sense of humour," he said. "Which I like."

"Hmmm," I mused. "Well, I'd say it's more like dark irony, but yeah."

"If you insist," he chortled.

"Besides," I carried on. "I can't run anywhere."

I showed him my poor nails.

"I haven't had my top coat yet."

He laughed some more, then seemed to sag a little.

"Gah….shit," he muttered. "I'll have to go apologise to Rose. Hang on."

He attempted to shift himself from the sofa but fell back under his own gravity.

"Jeez, fuck. I feel like shit. Do you have this bug thing too?"

He gestured to his enormous belly unhappily.

I nodded.

"On and off," I said as I watched him struggle.

Oh come on Bree, you can't just watch him struggle!

"Hold it," I said. "I'll go get her. Don't move."

I walked out slowly, to show I wasn't planning to bolt (like I should have been).

"Oh Bree!" Emmett cawed. "My hero!"

I couldn't help grinning. Plus I was obviously allowed to be a free-range Red-Eyes now. Always a bonus.

"Don't die for the next thirty seconds!" I laughed as he saluted me.

I found Rose quickly by scent. Her scent was easy to remember because it literally _was_ roses.

However the rose smell was overlaid by a kind of spicy chocolate and minty eucalyptus combo which always meant Dr and Mrs Cullen.

"He didn't mean it…" the doctor was saying softly. "He sick, he's worried."

"…And he's Emmett," sniffed Rosalie, who was looking distraught in a very film-starry kind of way.

What were those fake tears called? Maybe Alice could buy her some with her seemingly bottomless desire for consumer goods.

They all turned to look at me.

"Um, Emmett wants to apologise," I said awkwardly, not sure on the correct way to say something like that.

To be honest, I found this domestic set-up extremely stifling. That being said, I had to admit I was feeling a little safer around the Cullens, we had a kind of unspoken truce: I don't attack _you_ for the next minute and you don't attack _me_ for the next minute, and we'll take each minute as it comes.

"Thank you, Bree," said the doctor, as Rosalie brushed past me…I'm not gonna say _rudely,_ but something close to it.

After she had gone, the doctor and his wife exchanged a kind of excited little grin.

Ugh, what _now?_

"Bree," Mrs Cullen said softly. "Do you mind if we have a talk?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes:**

Kay guys, here we go.

This is the part where I start to be a bitch and dock heads.

See, the Cullens have been under quite a bit of strain since Bella entered the family and the breaking point is coming up.

So, before you read these next chapters, I'm so, SO sorry to any pro-Cullen Twilight fans who I'm about to upset, but this is how I think the family would behave if they started to be a bit more like vampires.

Because, seriously, with the frankly traumatic background stories these characters have, I just feel like there are some issues that need to be addressed.

Enjoy…

 **Chapter 11**

Mrs Cullen came to sit on the edge of the sofa I had been motioned to almost sheepishly. By her expression, I half expected her to hand me box of tampons and shyly explain what they were for.

Her husband watched the two of us like a hawk over the top of his iPhone. He stood directly behind his wife like a guard with his hand on her shoulder. But yeah, I guess my record was against me in that department.

This close, I could make out the thin line across Mrs Cullen's neck where Dr Cullen had put her back together. I guess it... _could_ look fashionable?

"Bree," Mrs Cullen said gently. "I…"

It was as if she didn't know how to begin.

"I…sort of get the impression that you don't feel as comfortable around Carlisle and I as you do around our children."

And which children are those? I just managed to stop myself saying.

"And…I wondered if there was anything we could do to make you feel a little more…secure," she finished, a little more confidently.

She looked at me expectantly, but what could I say?

Yeah, I have issues with authority…I hate the way you dress…I dunno…you remind me of the mother I never had and the father I couldn't trust…

"Bree?"

I stiffened at Dr Cullen's voice. He looked concerned. Well, pretended to.

"We appreciate that your human life may not have been all that pleasant," he said. "And we know your immortal one can't have been much fun so far either. But I want you to know that you can talk to us about whatever…"

He caught Mrs Cullen's eye.

"…Or _whomever_ may have made you innately suspicious of us."

I obviously gave him a shifty look, and he actually chuckled.

"I promise, Bree," he said, holding his wife a little more firmly by the shoulders as she beamed. "We're the _good_ guys."

Hmmmmmm, the _good_ guys, huh? Well, I'd fucking heard _that_ one before. I wanted to go back to Emmett, I didn't like this.

However, again, I was thwarted.

I was about to find out what the 'good guys' did all day.

"Phew," Dr Cullen laughed. "Now that's off our chests, honey, was there something you wanted to ask Bree?"

Mrs Cullen grinned.

"Bree, I was wondering if perhaps you would lend me a hand around the house?"

She grinned childishly and displayed a set of dimples which I'm sure Dr Cullen (who was still glaring at me very subtly) valued very highly.

"I was hoping we could get to know each other a little," she added.

Get…to know each other? _Really?_

I didn't answer, which was apparently the _wrong_ answer since from the other side of the sofa, Dr Cullen raised his eyebrow with, what I judged to be, the spice of aggression as he startled playing absently with Mrs Cullen's curls.

"Er…sure?" I answered.

"Oh that's wonderful!" she decided.

Was it wonderful?

Was it?

Yeah… _no_ , it wasn't.

After my transformation never did I _ever_ imagine that I would vacuum a floor again. But that's what happened.

"Oh Bree!" Mrs Cullen exclaimed when I had given the chore my, admittedly, rather half-assed best effort. "That looks wonderful! Well done!"

Yeah, well done, Bree! You have the co-ordination required to walk in a straight line holding a vacuum cleaner!

Nice one, Bree! You can carry a pile of books from one room to the one beside it!

Good work, Bree! You can wash up a dish that's already clean!

I'm so impressed, Bree! Wherever did you learn how to fold towels so nicely?

She was driving me.

Up.

The wall.

She then sweetly suggested that I might like to start sorting Christmas decorations in the attic which is about the point when I decided it was time for that fucking head to come off again.

"…Aaaand time!" called Dr Yellow-Eyes from where he was shadowing us, having presumably read my expression correctly.

He sauntered forwards.

"I think you've made a really good effort today, Bree!" he said, encouraging as ever as he looped his arm around his wife who was practically trembling with excitement.

Yeah, good effort, Bree!

You know, Bree, it's so nice to see someone's not afraid to give one-hundred-and-ten percent!

Seriously, my own fucking _name_ was beginning to annoy me, the way they used it.

I shrugged listlessly. The possibility of a life of endless servitude to the Cullens was making the idea of a quick death slightly bearable.

"And," Dr Cullen said with a doting smile. "I think as a reward we could all go out and _hunt,_ how about that?"

My throat, my goddamn _throat_ started to burn.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said, embarrassingly raspily.

They both looked at me sympathetically.

"It gets better Bree," Esme said quietly.

"Yes," Carlisle agreed. "And we could start you on some of the predator animals first to ease you into it - they'll be a lot nicer than the deer."

They both beamed at me as if they'd just given me the greatest gift in the world.

"We're hunting _animals?"_ I asked before I could stop myself.

"Of course," Dr Cullen said with a carefully neutral voice. "That's how we all live here. That's how we can interact with humans so closely."

What?

Actually… _what?_

The rest of the family filed in - even Emmett had mad it off his death bed for this one. This was obviously explanation time.

"Now, Bree," Dr Cullen said, addressing his coven along with me. "You surrendered to us. You refused to fight. And so we feel you have certainly earned the right to be a part of this family, if you so wish it."

He stepped back respectfully to let me digest that, though I sensed he had been waiting to say it for a while.

"You…you want me to _stay?"_ I asked, bewildered.

I was strangely…touched.

"Bree," said Esme eagerly. "Of course we do! We'd love you like a child and a sister!"

It was now Alice's turn.

She stepped forward.

"Jasper and I joined the family," she said. "We weren't bitten by Carlisle like the others, but they treat us no different."

Oh Christ, she was getting emotional.

"And it's the first family and the _best_ family I've ever had!" she finished, clasping Jasper's alarmingly scarred hand.

He looked emotional too, though he always kinda did.

"Yeah," Emmett added. "And Carlisle and Esme will make you do _High School."_

He rolled his eyes.

"But it's good, seriously."

High school? With…with _humans?_

Edward chuckled.

"Yes, with humans, but we can resist their scent after a while."

I thought a human blood and burned. Yes, maybe _they_ could.

But, hey, let's have it out right now.

Even with my new outfit, I would never be one of them, for a number of reasons. To start, let's just think about the terrifying red spider-eyes in my face.

"But I'm a Red-Eyes," I reasoned quietly.

Didn't they understand that?

"Are you?" asked Dr Cullen with a grin on his face.

Obviously my expression asked the question for me so he got up to fetch a mirror from the pocket of his jacket.

(And, yeah, I did wonder why he carried a mirror with him and whether he was a clinical narcissist.)

He offered it to me. I stared.

"M-my eyes," I stammered, gazing with horror at the amber-coloured orbs in my face.

Not red, not black, _amber._

Did I have an infection?

At that, Edward chuckled.

"No, Bree, you do not have an infection in your eyes," he said, sharing a smile with Dr Cullen.

They laughed at my thought and I bristled with anger. They were laughing at me! How was it my fault that I didn't understand what was happening!

"Well what _is_ wrong with them then?" I asked. _"Doctor?"_

He raised his eyebrow a little at my sarcastic use of his hard-earned title.

"Bree, there is nothing wrong with your eyes," he said gently (because _obviously_ I was a delicate petal). "Perhaps we _should_ be asking what's _right_ with your eyes."

Did…did _that_ answer my question? Huh? No, no it didn't. Just tell me the goddamn-

"They have changed colour because you have been feeding off the animal carcasses that we've been leaving out for you," said Edward calmly, reading my mind. "In a few months they'll be golden in colour, just like ours."

J-just like theirs?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes:**

Heeeere we go...

 **Chapter 12**

My eyes were turning _yellow._

I looked from one Yellow-Eyes to another in horror as I realised what had been happening.

All along, as I thought that I was outsmarting them, the Yellow-Eyes had been one step ahead. They had been using my desperation to force me into drinking animal blood. And if what Ed- _The Mindreader_ said was true, they were trying to change me into another Yellow-Eyes, another trapped member in their twisted family…no, _cult._

I felt my fingers twisting agitatedly. Just when I thought I knew what I was…

I thought about how happy-kid Bree had turned into _sad_ -kid Bree…then sad- _teen_ Bree…then _scared_ -teen Bree…then _homeless_ Bree…then _Red-Eyes_ Bree…now… _Yellow-Eyes_ Bree?

I couldn't deal with it. It was one change too far. I couldn't…I…I felt so… _so_ …I _wanted…_

"Err…Carlisle…" said Mindreader with a worried edge to his voice. "Maybe we should…-"

"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "I DON'T WANT TO BE A YELLOW-EYES! I WANT DIEGO BACK! I WANT TO GET OUT!"

I charged forwards into Dr Evil-Bastard (double-barrelled), meeting his diamond-hard stomach with my equally hard fist and he doubled over. However, my primal triumph was short-lived as the rest of the family advanced and I felt the blond psycho fold me into a tight headlock.

There was a searing wrench as he kindly un-burdened me of one of my arms and I snarled in pain and anger.

My fucking _arm!_

"Jasper, please," gasped Mrs Yellow-Eyes as she looked at me with pity.

 _God,_ I hated that look. You know what, I wished I _had_ killed her.

Mindreader strode forward and slapped me across the face, which wasn't exactly painful, rather humiliating.

"That's my mother," he growled.

I growled back.

"Jasper," said Dr Yellow-Eyes, straightening his tie in the most infuriating way. "Can you…?"

Psycho shook his wild head.

"That would be a lie," he drawled. "This is the newborn in full splendour, Carlisle. This is what I've been trying to tell you."

I wriggled but he held his grasp, my newborn strength had been dulled with time and, I suspect, the _poison_ I'd been forced by these evil _assholes_ to drink!

"Bree," said the doctor calmly. "I know this is all a lot to take in. Okay? I appreciate that. But I'm going to have to ask you to _calm down_ so we can talk, can you do that?"

I honestly couldn't, not with the impeccably dressed family watching me like an amusing reality TV show.

"Bree?" he repeated while I writhed. "If you are unhappy with this life we…we would not want to, but we would be willing to end it for you, if you felt it best."

"No!" I cried.

I _hated_ him. _All_ of them.

"Just. Let. Me. _Go!"_

The beautiful Barbie looked troubled, her hands clasping and unclasping in from of her in an oddly human way.

"Let her go, Carlisle!" she burst suddenly.

The others turned to her questioningly. And why _should_ the monster be allowed to live?

"We can't!" cried Mrs Yellow-Eyes. "She's _hurt!"_

"Because of you!" I snarled as my arm writhed of it's own accord, now in her captivity.

I then snarled even _harder_ as she licked the join on my missing arm and attached to my body with her _own_ venom, I wanted to throw up. That was beyond invasive.

"Get _off_ me!" I screamed. "I'm not your child! _Nobody_ here is!"

She jumped away as if burned and a low hiss seemed to move around the room. Clearly that was _not the said thing._

"Don't listen to her, Esme!" cried Mindreader. "She's only-"

"Correct!" I interjected shrilly.

Dr Yellow-Eyes turned to me, angry. It seemed I could hurt him and get no response but to insult his _wife_ would make his metaphorical blood boil.

"Bree!" he scolded as if I were a dog. "No! _Gosh!_ I must say I have never had this much trouble from a newborn, not even Rosalie."

He reached down and tilted my head upwards to look at him.

"I would like you to apologise to my wife," he said gently. "I don't think you realise how upsetting what you said was to her."

I didn't want to.

"I don't want to," I said.

Dr Understanding now knelt down to my head's level (which was uncomfortably low, thanks to Psycho.)

"Bree," he said quietly. "I know this is hard, but we can't help you unless you give a little back."

I laughed sardonically. I wondered if he genuinely thought he sounded convincing. Could he not _hear_ himself?

"Bree, Esme is waiting for your apology…" he continued in that same… _infuriating_ tone.

And she was, big eyes twinkling expectantly for me to confess my utter unfairness, accept her gladly as my mother and run sobbing into her arms, thanking her for her kindness, without which I would have been lost.

"She can keep waiting," I said blandly. "Pick up a book if she likes, it's gonna be a long one."

Dr Yellow-eyes chuckled patiently. Gah! Kids!

"Alright, Bree, you've had your fun," he said kindly. "But now it's time for a sorry. Just 'sorry' then we can move on."

I…really _didn't_ feel like saying it.

"No," I replied. "I will not say it."

"Bree, I'll forgive you!" said pretty Mrs Yellow-Eyes.

And she really would! Look how earnestly she laid out her heart! Such love!

"Mrs Cullen!" I said, slightly frantically. "I don't _want_ to!"

"Bree," said Dr Yellow-eyes, a warning under his smile.

"No."

"Bree?" pleaded his wife.

"No."

"Say it!" growled Psycho, tightening his hold on me.

"No!" I cried again, feeling tearful.

"She won't say it!" declared Pixie the beautician, who had done a very good job of managing to keep quiet so far.

"Then she doesn't _have_ to say it!" shouted Barbie, who had been watching the exchange looking more and more upset.

"Rosalie," said Dr Moral Values. "We appreciate forgiveness in this family. How can we offer Bree forgiveness if she doesn't apologise?"

"She can do it later," snapped the blonde. "Right now, it wouldn't be genuine."

And she was right. I was furious.

"Besides," she continued. "I'd say we owe _her_ a bit of an apology, right Carlisle?"

"Rose," began Mrs Yellow-Eyes. "Please. Not now."

"What?" I demanded in a hiss. "Tell me what?"

I don't know what it was in my expression, but something must have convinced Barbie that we were on the same side.

Rose went rouge.

"Bree, our coven is the reason that you no longer have your human life," she said in a rush before anyone should silence her. "Because of _Bella,_ we had to-"

"Rosalie, that's enough!" shouted Dr Yellow-Eyes, livid. _"None_ of this is Bella's fault!"

"Rosalie, you leave Bella out of this," Mindreader snarled, looking kinda terrifying. "This _is_ and always _has been_ about _you."_

"If it's not Bella's fault it's yours!" she countered. "Your fucking _selfishness!_ This kid has nothing to apologise for!"

"Bree," said Dr Yellow-Eyes curtly, choosing to discipline me before Rosalie (perhaps I was the softer option). "Apologise to my wife."

But I wasn't listening. The human. Of course, it was _all_ the human.

Diego.

The fact that she was Diego's equivalent to the Mindreader didn't register. It was mate for mate, always had been. This was _their_ fault.

The atmosphere in the room was electric with tension.

"Wait!" cried Mindreader, staring at Pixie, who seemed to have zoned out again. "The other newborns….they just broke through the perimeter. The wolves…I don't know how…"

Temporarily, I was forgotten as Dr Asshole got to flex his leadership muscles.

"How many?" he demanded.

"Three…no, four," Lightning-conductor answered, hearing their thoughts, I guess. "They…"

Mindreader gave me a much odder look than normal.

Newborns? Newborns that _wanted_ to be here?

I was shaken roughly out of my thoughts by Psycho.

He caught Dr Asshole's eye meaningfully.

"Then you must go, Edward," Dr Yellow-Eyes said authoritatively. "And Emmett and Jasper, you too…"

He turned back to me. He looked like he'd finally lost it.

"…Right after _Bree_ apologises for what she said to Esme."

Yep, lost his fucking mind.

"Honey, honestly, it's fine," said Mrs Yellow-Eyes gently with a small furrow between her brows. "We can do this later. I don't mind-"

"No, Esme, it's _not_ fine," Dr Yellow-Eyes cut in harshly, eyes boring into mine. "You deserve respect."

He kept glaring as his wife fidgeted agitatedly. She didn't look particularly eager for this 'respect'.

"Darling, she doesn't want to," she said, louder, stepping forward.

She was stopped by Dr Yellow-Eyes' arm.

"Esme, she will," he said.

 _And that's final._

Mrs Yellow-Eyes gave a funny little nod and stepped back obediently, taking a breath to endure what I was determined was going to be a very long argument.

"I don't want to," I reminded the coven leader.

"She has to," Mindreader murmured in his ear.

"She doesn't have to," Mrs Yellow-eyes muttered quietly, more to herself than anyone else.

"Doesn't look like she's gonna…" Hulk said thoughtfully.

"She won't," snapped Barbie.

"She must!" insisted Cowboy.

"She isn't going to," Pixie added dreamily.

"I won't," I snarled.

"SHE WILL!" shouted Dr Yellow-Eyes.

"SHE _WON'T!"_

For some reason that I still can't quite fathom, Barbie launched herself at Psycho, taking everyone (especially me) by surprise and _freeing_ me.

In the same nanosecond, Mindreader and Pixie had her flattened.

"Rosalie!" Pixie hissed furiously.

And all of a sudden Hulk didn't seem too ill at all.

"Edward!" he roared.

At last someone was going to beat that fucking telepathic head in.

"Please," cried Mrs Yellow-Eyes, shaking. "Please stop!"

They continued.

"Children…please…"

"Stop this instant!" commanded Dr Yellow-Eyes, looking panicked that nobody seemed to be listening to him.

"You don't care about us!" Barbie hissed to Mindreader as Hulk prised them apart. "You only care about what _you_ want, that's the way it's _always_ been!

He snarled.

"Carlisle changed me," Barbie continued. "Took my whole fucking _being_ away from on the _off chance_ that you might want me too! You know what that _does_ to a person?"

Hulk hit Mindreader in the stomach though he seemed too intent upon ripping Barbie to bits to notice.

"Such a shame we couldn't all be the favourite child!" she snarled.

Mindreader hissed.

"I can't imagine how _anyone_ would _ever_ want you, Rosalie!" he spat back.

(And another healthy fist in the gut for him.)

"Stop fighting, please," breathed Mrs Yellow-Eyes.

"Your mother is right, stop fighting," said Dr Asshole calmly, retreating into a kind of delusion of order.

"You have to _stop!"_ shouted Pixie, shrilly, with that special look in her eye. "Otherwise-"

A fist caught her in the face, whether accidental or not, I'll never know.

And Hulk lost an arm.

He roared in pain and smacked Jasper back so hard I was afraid.

"STOP!" roared Dr Yellow-Eyes.

"Then _make_ us!" screamed Rosalie who's hand was now crawling across the floor under it's own steam. "Except you _can't!_ Because you're such a _coward_ can't even face the Volturi without a child sacrifice, despite what Esme and I have _fucking_ told you!"

"Okay, Rose," he snarled. "I think it's time to calm down."

Child sacrifice…

Oh shit. Oh _shit._

All trust I had for these people was shattered immediately.

Of _course_ they were just keeping me here until the Volturi arrived. Jesus, they'd even _said_ as much! How had I not known? Why did I think they'd protect me?

Fuck this! I had to go.

However, to do that I would probably have to take out Mrs Yellow-Eyes again who was standing between me and the only exit.

I was shaking, both from my revelation and the violence that had erupted. It was so _loud_. Shouting ripping, screaming…

I couldn't deal with this kind of violence. Family violence.

And neither could Mrs Yellow-Eyes who met my gaze, terrified. She looked like she was having a genuine panic attack as she watched her husband advance upon Rosalie with balled fists.

With the same numbness, she stepped shakily away from the doorway she was meant to be guarding, something I read as an invitation.

 _Bree. Save yourself,_ said her eyes. _Leave._

So I did.

And _that_ you can bet did not go unnoticed.

"Jesus, Esme!… _FUCK!"_ roared Dr Yellow-Eyes as he realised what she'd done.

His wife broke down completely surrounded by the assorted limbs of her babies.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "Please! Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please, Carlisle! Please! I'm sorry, so sorry! Don't hurt me!"

"Esme, _why_ would you do that to me?" he screamed over the screeching of limb-removal. "To _us?"_

Because like a bat outta hell I was gone.

 **Notes:**

I did warn you…


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes**

Hi guys!

Today I felt like clearing up what I felt to be a weensy bit of a plot hole in Stephanie Meyer's Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, not that I'm bashing on the story, which is great, just there's something that the more wishful of us may have clung to.

And here it is.

Enjoy.

 **Chapter 13**

Déjà vu.

Complete fucking déjà vu, except this time I was wearing more uncomfortable clothes. And I had a plan.

That human was _dead_ meat.

Well…that was the first plan, and it would have worked, I guess. But here Bree gets inventive.

Because there was a fate worse than death. I would know.

 _Fuck them!_ I thought savagely as I sped through the forest that the Yellow-Eyes hadn't bothered to man anymore. _Thinking they were better than me!_

Well, I knew what I'd do. Save them a little trouble before the Volturi came, the Volturi they were planning to _sell me out to all along!_

If they wanted the human to be a vampire, then so be it. But it would be on my terms. And it would be now.

And _I_ was going to do it.

I would make her a Red-Eyes. An evil, filthy, monstrous Red-Eyes like Victoria had made me, then see how much they cared for her.

And I even knew where she'd be.

Leaving the chaos of the Yellow-Eyes coven behind me, I ran _towards_ the wolf scent, the trail leading me to their village, saying my goodbyes the the world as I did so. I knew that it was only if I were lucky that I'd get the human before the wolves got me, because they would get me. For sure.

I also knew more Newborns were around, but I couldn't worry about them. Let them have the town, I couldn't care less.

Fuck, I'd even _help_ because I'd sure as shit rather die raising hell then at the grubby-fingered mercy of the Volturi.

After I had reached my destination, the first thing I smelled in the village was sickness. Rancid human vomit.

And that mixed with the wolf smell smelled nearly as bad as the human. Nearly.

So where the hell was she?

I ignored the ethnic loveliness as I wandered through the settlement and focused on the scent, the human's scent. I couldn't find it since the sickness was almost _overwhelming._

I stopped breathing.

 _So what the fuck do I do now?_

Well, since I'd now thrown caution completely to the wind and did, quite simply, not give a fuck anymore, I decided to do the stupidest, most counter-productive thing a new vampire could do.

I asked a passerby.

There weren't many people around, which made sense since it must have been about eight in the evening. The only heartbeats I could make out were around the other side of one of the barns along the main track.

Yes, I was walking along the main track of the village. Without camouflage.

I repeat, I didn't give a fuck anymore.

I rounded the corner to find a group of boys sitting on their bikes. They honestly looked about six.

I'd really reached new lows here. A vampire was asking a _six-year-old_ how to find her prey.

"Hey, excuse me?" I asked the leader of the kids (the one with the nicest bike).

He jumped guiltily. Out past his bedtime, perhaps?

"I'm looking for Bella," I said, forcing myself to use the human's name as another human might. "She said she'd meet me here? Have you seen her?"

The boy gawped, at my eyes presumably.

"Wow, your eyes!" he said.

"Yeah!" I agreed breathlessly. "You can never be too early for halloween!"

Another boy giggled having seen my one-sleeveless cardigan.

 _You fucking little shit!_

"I was gonna show them to Bella," I improvised pointing to my eyes. "Have you seen her?"

"Sure!" the boy said as he encouraged his other little cronies to laugh too. "She'll be at Jake's, I guess."

"Nah," said another boy. "I just saw her at Sam and my sister's house."

"Thanks!" I smiled, trying to stop myself from ripping his puny little throat out. "Er…which one is that?"

He pointed down a road.

"The very end one that way," he said. "Can't miss it."

"Thanks," I said, clenching my jaw.

Not blood, revenge. Not blood, revenge. Not blood, revenge.

I stalked away.

"She looks like a vampire," I heard one of the kids say when I had gone.

Too fucking right she does! And you're lucky she's not feeling too well today or you'd all be dead!

Maybe I could fit them in later. Teach their parents not to raise such rude fucking kids.

I set off at a run.

I found the house and settled myself outside, letting myself camouflage against the wooden boards. _Damn_ it felt good to be able to do that again.

I stayed outside, knowing that the Yellow-Eyes human (damn her to hell) could see through my camouflage.

Two humans were in the kitchen. It smelled of food but I couldn't identify the type over the nausea that hit me looking at that girl.

Jeez, I thought I was gonna pass out.

"So…how is your dad gonna take it?" asked the darker-haired girl who smelled of wolf, (and had quite a magnificent scar down one side of her face), filling the… _that_ human's plate. "The engagement?"

"Honestly…"

The Yellow-Eyes' human gave an infuriating and rather unnecessary sigh.

"I'm more worried about how Jake's gonna take it."

The other human nodded understandingly.

"I know what you mean," said the wolf's human with the patience of a saint. "Leah…she was hurt when Sam and I finally decided…I guess it just made it real somehow and-"

"I just can't quite believe I'm actually gonna marry Edward!" the Yellow-Eyes' human burst, before the other human had finished talking.

I actually felt my eyebrows shoot up.

 _I_ couldn't believe she was going to marry him! Who could bear to fucking marry _him?_

I also began to wonder…y'know…with her being human…and him being a Yellow-Eyes…how would they…?

Christ, this human had better fucking hope he was nothing like his daddy, that's for sure.

This was beyond fucking weird. She was going to marry him!

…Well, assuming that Mindreader hadn't been Hulkified and incinerated back at the house.

Which reminded me.

I was on a fucking mission. And that did not include listening to this soppy human's wedding plans.

I crept forward so I was just beside the window.

Bella the human stopped eating. Perhaps she'd been around vampires long enough to know when one was near.

"Is…somebody there?" the wolf girl asked worriedly, turing her head to follow Bella's gaze.

"Edward? Alice?" Bella asked, sensing the absence of sound that usually meant a vampire. "Are you guys here?"

I waited. Nothing.

The human settled a little. But only a little. She kept fidgeting.

"Shouldn't Sam be back by now?" she asked the wolf's human.

Wolf human started pacing.

"Yeah…but it's nothing to worry about," she said, though she was clearly worried about the absence of wolves because of the newborns that had allowed me this close

Yup. Four newborn vampires coming for the town and a supernatural virus. Nothing to worry about.

Even the Yellow-Eyes' human didn't buy that one.

"Emily, what aren't you telling me?" she demanded of the older human. "Nobody tells me anything! I deserve to know! Why does nobody think I can't take care of myself?"

Fuck she was annoying!

"Because you can't take care of yourself," spoke a clear voice from beside her that I quickly recognised as my own.

The second human darted for something.

"And put the fucking phone down," I snapped quickly. "Or you're both dead."

Again, the Yellow-Eyes' human gawped.

The other had the brains to panic. She panicked because she couldn't see her attacker.

Ohhh.

I re-appeared.

"Relax," I said to the girl, Emily, as her jaw dropped. "I have no beef with you, at all. I just need to ask this one some questions."

I turned my gaze on Bella the human.

 _Close your mouth, hun,_ I thought, and almost said.

"Wha…what are…?" she stammered. "Y-you can't be here! E-Edward h-he'll…."

"Yeah," I said blandly. "He'll murder me after he and his father have finished murdering the rest of their family. Since I bet he'd like to savour that, I think we have some time."

"W-wha-what? Murder? Wha-how?"

This human was hard work. I ignored her half-question.

"To get straight to it, Rosalie Cullen told me _you_ are responsible for this!" I hissed as I gestured to my own body. "Is that true?"

The human moved her mouth in the most infuriating way but still no sound came out.

"Tell me why Victoria changed us!" I demanded. "Why the _fuck_ she did this to us!"

The human was frozen.

"I…Edward he…"

"He _what?"_ I prompted angrily.

Speak, human!

"He killed-killed her mate…her m-mate, James, to-to protect me."

I digested this information.

If the human wasn't lying (and I don't even think she was smart enough to) Diego's death had already been avenged in a funny sort of way. Victoria's mate was dead.

That didn't avenge my own life.

"So it's _your_ fault?" I roared.

"N-no I…Yes!" she burst suddenly. "Don't hurt Edward or any of the others! It was me. K-kill me, not them!"

"Really?" I asked incredulously. "You'd give your own life for those assholes?"

She nodded.

And I had to hand it to her, it was very brave of her to stand in front of me, shielding her friend and asking for others lives to be spared for her own.

Gryffindor House. Well done. Top marks.

But where was her _survival instinct?_

You are asking to die, human. _Die._ That means forever.

Perhaps that's why she was so happy to spend time with the Yellow-Eyes (which in addition to being dangerous had to be excruciatingly annoying) - something about this girl just wasn't right.

I grinned. My plan was perfect.

This girl was going to be _the_ most…

Fucked up.

Red-Eyes.

Ever.

I grabbed Bella the human like a rag doll and she didn't even protest. _I_ fucking would have. I _did,_ if I recall my broken limbs correctly. It was likely she just knew how fruitless it would be to fight me.

And then, despite the urge to puke up my guts, I bit her - a healthy double-crunch of the jugular.

Nobody could say I was anything but thorough.

And then she screamed, well, sort of. She couldn't really make the full sound because I was crushing her windpipe a little, but credit to her she gave it a go.

As quick as I could, I withdrew, feeling filthy and for the first time like I ought to get tested for something.

I must have been feeling better than Bella, though, who was writhing like an eel whilst trying to keep quiet. It looked like the vein in her head was about to pop out.

"And don't you fucking forget it!" I hissed as the wolf human swayed faintly in complete shock.

And then I heard a noise. The kind of noise made by a noiseless creature.

The Yellow-Eyes had arrived.

My self-preservation instinct kicked in and I turned with a snarl on my face to see-

"Diego?" I gasped, wondering if the utter _filth_ that was the human's blood had caused me to hallucinate.

"Bree!" he cried. "You're alive!"

 _"_ _You're_ alive!" I said back in complete shock. "H-how? Riley and Victoria killed you!"

Diego looked at me funny.

"Errrr… _no_ …" he said slowly, perfect dark brows pulling together.

So….wait.

They…they _didn't…?_

And then my mind finally made the leap it should have a while ago, and _would_ have had I not been so deeply pessimistic.

I thought of Mrs Yellow-Eyes and the assumption I had made. That false assumption.

"Oh _goddammit!"_ I cursed, realising I'd been wrong all the time.

My determination to always be the force against the rest of the world, all alone, just as I'd grown up, had bitten me in the ass again.

Nobody had _seen_ Diego die. Or even claimed that they'd killed him!

 _Gah!_

Fuck you, brain!

I could have saved myself all of this! I could have…GAH….SHIT! _BREE!_

Diego laughed, that beautiful belly laugh as his eyes crinkled.

"And I missed you too," he said. "Sorry for surviving!"

And I was in his arms again, breathing in the amazing scent of freedom. That was his smell: freedom.

"Bree," he muttered after God knows how long. "I hate to be a party-pooper but we gotta _go,_ buddy."

And he was right. I had completely forgotten the petrified human and the other one who was becoming less-so every second.

Oops. My bad.

"Bree," Diego said seriously. "We have to get outta here - the wolves and the Yellow-Eyes will be on the way now. We don't have much time."

Diego wasn't kidding. We were in some shit.

But, strangely enough, I had quite astoundingly found the will to live again. I was not ready for my life to be over. Not when I had just got Diego back.

"Plan?" I asked hopefully.

Diego looked sheepish.

"Errrr…"

I sighed.

"Diego! What do you mean 'errr'?" I cried. "Don't you have a _plan?"_

"Yeah," he nodded confidently. "Find Bree."

"And then what?" I spluttered.

"Wha-? Do _you_ have a plan then?" he asked, his tone suggesting that he already knew the answer.

He got me. I hadn't.

Then he started to laugh.

Fucking... _Diego!_ Stop!

"Diego," I laughed back hysterically. "You've given me the giggles! Stop, goddammit!"

"I'm sorry!" he wheezed. "I'm just slightly in shock right now. I don't know what to do!"

I arched my brow.

"Do I always have to be the man in this relationship?" I asked, smirking over the desperate cries of a dying human.

I seized the wolf's catatonic human by the arm and slung her unceremoniously over my shoulder.

"Hostage," I explained.

I gave him the OK sign.

"Textbook."

"Hey, give her here," he said kindly. "I'll be the gentleman."

I laughed.

"Did that comment about your manliness upset you, Diego?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Maaaybe," he sniggered.

"Hey," I said with a smirk. "Dude, stop laughing - you get _that_ one."

I pointed to the writhing mess of blood and tears which used to be Bella the human, which, credit to Diego, he didn't hesitate to pick up.

"That's the real short-straw here," I finished as we carried both humans outside.

And were met by a wolf.

Shit.


	14. Chapter 14

The wolf was grey. And angry. And…it sounds kinda personal, but _smellier_ than the others.

Fuck this wolf.

"Hey!" yelled Diego, slinging his head towards Emily. "If this is your chick, let us past and we'll let her go. We don't plan to hurt her."

But it was the other human it wanted.

With a ripping snarl, it lunged for Bella's screaming form (and Diego, may I remind you) with teeth bared, ready to rip both of them apart.

It knew what had happened to her. It knew she was becoming a Red-Eyes.

Both Diego and I tensed to spring to protect him.

However, before the filthy animal could reach it's destination, another set of, perhaps even sharper, teeth sank into it's flank.

The teeth belonged to a massive browish wolf.

"Jake!" we heard the human weep as the russet wolf tore at the grey one mercilessly.

Out of the forest behind the russet wolf came another wolf, a bigger one, with the same look on it's furry face that Diego had now that the wolf was looking at me.

"His human," I muttered softly to Diego.

The wolf looked _fucking_ angry.

"This….Emily, she's yours, right?" asked Diego with more presence of mind that I had.

Seriously Diego, trying to _reason_ with it. I was impressed and perhaps just a little exasperated.

The wolf snarled, sounding more like an industrial chainsaw than an animal.

"Yeah...Well, Bree, here," he said stunningly calmly, gesturing to me. "Is mine, so let's work something out. We could-"

The bastard wolf moved to spring at Diego and, as it did, I launched the human though the air in the other direction.

Time for Bree's input.

Acting as I'd hoped, the wolf darted away to catch her, dodging the ball of fur that was the other two wolves, as Diego and I took our head start and sprinted in the other direction.

"Wow! When did you get so hard-ass?" he asked as the greenery blurred past.

"When I thought you were dead," I answered truthfully.

"I knew _you_ were alive," he grinned. "Just knew it. There was no way you would go down without a fight."

As if on cue, we heard the roar of the russet wolf as it realised that we had taken Bella.

"Jake!" she screamed. "Edward!"

Oh shit, yeah.

Edward.

As if drawn to her voice, my second-least favourite of the Yellow-Eyes came barrelling towards the wolves, signalled by the snarling. For a second I wondered why he didn't just follow our thoughts to find us, but then I realised. He had a bone to pick with the wolves.

The wolves growled but whatever Mindreader had heard in their heads was clearly less to his liking.

"FUCK YOUR TREATY!" he roared. "YOU LET THEM TAKE BELLA! YOU SWORE TO PROTECT H-"

There was an aching squeal of stone. Then silence.

…And then the forest was engulfed by the sound of snapping trees, snarling, hissing and a very long human scream which must have been Emily.

It cut off suddenly.

"Time to go!" said Diego as we sprinted away.

It was vampire against vampire, wolf against wolf and wolf against vampire. However, as rest of the supernatural population fought for their lives, Diego and I sprinted away with Bella, who I could appreciate, was in considerable pain at this point.

I glanced up at her pathetic writhing form.

You know what? Since Diego was alive, I couldn't quite remember what I had been angry with Bella for.

She screamed as the fire in her bloodstream hit another peak.

Gah, _shit!_ What had I done? The notion that she might have an actual _human_ family was beginning to creep up on me.

At the sight of her poor kicking feet, had a fit of conscience. I honestly didn't know how Victoria was able to change us and not give a shit about us. I had this overwhelming feeling that Bella was now _my_ responsibility.

"Shit!" I muttered. "Diego, if the wolves are killing vampires, she won't be safe in the woods."

"Is there anywhere we could leave her?" he asked thoughtfully, his mind having obviously gone in the same direction.

And God I was so grateful to Diego in that moment. I fucking love you.

I wracked my brains.

I was not going back to the Cullen house, that was for sure. Perhaps there was somewhere…

"Yeah," I said haltingly, wondering if my idea was as sane as I thought it was. "There's one place."

As we followed an old trail of mine and came out into the clearing, the Yellow-Eyes cottage looked the same. You wouldn't have ever been able to tell that the occupants were currently slaughtering and being slaughtered by their allies.

Fuck their allies! The rest of their _family,_ even.

I took a breath.

The spicy chocolate and peppermint eucalyptus smell hit me as I opened the door, unlocked.

I was a little scared of what I would find. Mrs Yellow-Eyes' remains?

Bella gave another cry of pain.

"Hang in there Bella," Diego said kindly, then turned to me. "Bree, I don't like this. Bad vibes…"

Diego took his 'vibes' very seriously.

He almost laughed.

"Bree, somebody's gone and fucking staked a _Bible_ here! There's a cross ripped up on the floor! I don't like this!"

I followed Diego into the room where I'd seen Dr Yellow-Eyes at the beginning of the end of his decline into madness.

I stopped in front of the wall comprised of drawings of all the Cullen family. Shit, I could _name_ them all now.

How many were still alive?

And of those alive today, how many would be alive tomorrow?

Bella, I was strangely determined would be one of those alive.

"Diego," I said with more strength than I felt I had. "This is our best option."

He nodded ascent.

"Now…bring Bella here," I said, gesturing to the corner of the room where there was a velvet sofa.

I chucked all the useless gaudy embroidered cushions out of the way to make space for the squirming girl.

"Okay, okay," I whispered, whether to myself, Diego or Bella I was't quite sure.

Then I winced.

Oh Jesus, she'd shit herself!

No, that's fine. Be calm. It happened to all of us.

Breathing heavily (but not too heavily, I mean jeez, that _stank),_ I took off my monstrosity of a one-armed cardigan and placed it over her straining body. My venom had seriously kicked in now. I felt bad. I knew how it felt.

"Bree," Diego said, handing me one side of a quilt he managed to find. "Let's bundle her up so she can't hurt herself. When she's transformed, she'll be strong enough to get out."

I nodded.

Gah, he's so smart! Why didn't I think of that?

"Bella," I said as we bundled her up military-style. "I know you probably can't hear or understand me very well, but you'll be safe…and they'll find you…and it'll all be okay…"

She screamed. Yeah, like she'd give a shit. Nice one, Bree.

"I'm sorry Bella…"

I thought I heard one of her teeth snap as she ground them.

"We need something for her to bite down on," Diego said, eyes darting around.

I held up the nearest item. He gave a breath of laughter.

"Not the fucking staked Bible, c'mon Bree."

I managed a smile.

"Handbag strap?" I suggested.

"Yeah," Diego breathed. "No, that's a good one. I'll go see…"

He whisked himself away into the adjacent room and I could hear rummaging over the sobs of the human.

"Hang on…" Diego called. "This looks like a…we got a…. _holy shit!_ There's a fucking _porcelain_ _baby doll_ in here! And it's wearing a diaper with a fucking _dummy_ in its mouth! Bree, buddy, I don't do dolls…Oh my God…"

He sounded wary.

"Shit! Nope! that's me done!"

He walked back into the room with his arms up in surrender, in one, thankfully, he clutched a leather handbag.

"I'm out. That's way too far!"

I knew he was trying to make me laugh, and I managed a giggle, though he did genuinely look a little freaked out.

He handed me the bag.

"There is some fucked up shit in that closet, Bree," he said. "I'm telling you. If we ever need a bullet collection or Victorian surgical instruments of torture, we know where to come."

I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

We both knew this family was fucked.

Lifting Bella's chin, we wedged her head up so she didn't choke, then pushed the leather strap of the bag into her mouth to protect her teeth as she clenched her jaw in agony.

I stood up, feeling strangely emotional.

This was my creation.

Diego felt the same.

"So, I guess we're teen parents now," he said, not sounding as pissed off with me as he probably should.

"Well," I replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "It's what everyone says, it just happened."

Diego giggled. Giggled. It sounded too light of a noise to accompany the humans frantic struggles against her own charring body.

I looked back at her sadly. We…maybe we could…Should we…bring her with us?

"She's changing or dying Bree," said Diego, reading my fucking mind.

I looked back at the little cocooned creature in her pitiful excuse for a comfortable position. She'd die alone. But that was the best I could do for my baby.

"Bree," Diego said, tugging my hand. "Let's grab the others and leave before it's too late for us."

Now _that_ was something I had forgotten about!

"The others?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes**

Sorry for the delay - I've been busy :)

 **Chapter 15**

Diego and I tracked through the forest, hand in hand, and suddenly I hit a scent that was familiar.

 _Really_ familiar.

Three other vampires had joined our escape.

"Fred!" I cried as my nausea vanished and I realised where it had come from in the first place.

"Hey Bree," he said, completely normally, as if we were sitting in a café instead of running for our lives through a forest at breakneck speed.

I then looked at the two other figures running with us, eyes narrowing in recognition.

These were two other vampires I had seen only briefly and never spoken to.

"Hey, Bree!" said the first.

He was tall, skinny and oriental-looking and had tufty hair that stuck right up in spikes.

 _Damn_ he would have made Mindreader jealous!

He was also dressed in a polo neck shirt and pin-striped suit which I found a little strange.

Running a very pointed distance away from him was a vaguely distinctive mop of frizzy brown hair.

"Mrs Diego," said the olive-tinted female, smirking. "Pleased to see you alive and well."

So they had just run away. And survived.

Suddenly I felt a little stupid. How was _I_ the one who had managed to get myself into, and enormously expand, this huge mess?

"Shelly! Steve!" I gasped.

"You betcha!" Steve laughed.

I couldn't help but laugh, too.

The presence of Diego and Fred made it difficult to be intimidated by the two vampires.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" I asked as I batted a particularly large fern out of my way.

"Hey! Nothing wrong with dressing sharp!" he retorted. "Better question, what are _you_ wearing?"

"Don't even go there," I said, managing an eye-roll.

"Gone for a little après-ski look?" he lisped.

"Behave," scolded Shelly. "Honestly, I thought Bree would be a _good_ influence on you."

"And besides," rumbled Fred. "Could have been worse. They could have dressed her in one of their spangly _Avengers_ numbers."

The group's laughter echoed through the trees. I swear to God that was the best sound in the world.

"You saw that?" I asked.

"Of course we did," Shelly said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Fred tried to stop you from reaching the human so they couldn't catch you."

I remembered how her blood had become rancid all of a sudden.

"So it was you… _you_ made the sickness!" I confirmed.

"I'm sorry if it fucked you up," Fred said with the hint of apology in his voice. "I was kinda flying blind. I tried to focus it on the biggest guy, assuming he was most of a threat."

"You took out the whole town!" I spluttered, laughing.

"You can thank me for that," said Steve adjusting his lapels in mock arrogance. "Amplifier five million!"

"What?" I asked.

"His…gift…" said Shelly, an eye-roll in her voice. "Is the ability to magnify the gifts of others."

She glared at him.

"Oh, Shells, don't look at me like that," said Steve coquettishly, seemingly with the intent of pissing her off. "We're all real sorry you didn't get one!"

"Well I have a brain, which is just as good, if not better," she added snappily, fuelling Diego's beautiful chortles.

"She's got you there Steve-o," Diego laughed.

"Well you didn't get one either Diego!" smirked Steve, flipping Diego the finger.

"But I got a girlfriend," Diego shot back happily.

He gave my hand a squeeze

I thought I was going to explode

"That's true," Shelly said. "And thank God for it. I've missed female company."

And then she actually smiled at me and I knew that her briskness wasn't going to be a problem between us.

"And she wanted an odd number of people so we could get a majority vote on stuff. She wanted to kick me out to make three but now we have five so it's all good," said Steve. "'Cause Shells, here, is real smart."

He nodded sarcastically.

"I _was_ a law student, thank you!" she spluttered indignantly.

"Yeah, before you got hooked on…"

Steve pretended to consider.

"…What was it? Valium? Xanax?"

"You know that really isn't funny!" Shelly cut in shrilly. "At least _I_ never went to jail!"

"Hey! It was a nice car!" spluttered Steve indignantly. _"Anyone_ would have done it!"

Fred gave me a 'leave them to it' look while they continued their high-speed bickering match.

"Fred," I said, with a choke in my voice. "I… _thank you."_

He shrugged. He wasn't the sort of guy to make a big deal of things, even if he _had_ risked his life for mine.

"S'okay Bree," he said absently. "Jeez, we've gotta stick together if we're gonna-"

"Bree," said Shelly suddenly, obviously in response to something Steve had just said to her. "Did you know that ninety percent of men would trade their brain for a second penis?"

Steve roared with laughter.

"Oh my God! No! I totally would though!"

He turned eagerly to Diego.

"Hey Diego...Diego."

He smacked Diego on the shoulder to move his attention from me.

"Diego, _Diego_ wouldn't you?"

Diego pretended to consider.

"Er," he said, brow furrowed. "Not really…no."

"What about another testicle?" Steve continued, not having listened to Diego's answer. "Would you rather have a second dick or another ball? Fred, hey, Fred, _Fredddddd_ what about you?"

Fred didn't even look around as he answered.

"Both if you mom was here," he said blandly.

….Aaaaand that was Fred. The conversation ender. Bless your heart, Fred.

"Fred," said Steve. "My friend, seriously…"

He looked at me with mischief in his eyes.

"Not in the presence of a minor."

"Me?" I squealed.

Whoa there! I could see this one getting old _real_ fast.

"Yeah," Steve chortled. "Which makes you, Diego a-"

"Lucky guy," said Fred smoothly. "Now let's drop it. I'm sure Bree has questions."

I sure did.

"Diego…how did you survive? Riley…"

I trailed off. I didn't want to even think about how lucky we were that Riley didn't kill him.

"He was gonna," he answered solemnly. _"She_ wanted him to."

"Victoria," I said hollowly. "Her name was Victoria."

"Well Victoria wanted him to kill me," Diego said. "But he didn't. He said he wanted me to scout out a new home for us after it was all over."

"What?" asked Shelly, eyebrows shooting up. "You never told us that! Why?"

"He seemed to be under the impression that some of us…"

Diego shrugged as if to distance himself from this insane idea.

"…Not _many_ of us, but some would survive this battle with the Yellow-Eyes."

I grinned at the name he'd close for them, same as I had.

"And we'd keep living….with him and…with her, I guess," he finished.

"Like their kids, or something?" asked Shelly, horrified.

"Gross," said Steve with finality.

"Anyway, he sent me off North," Diego continued, squeezing my hand a little harder unconsciously. "And I went, thinking he was going to sent you after me, that's what he told me. When you didn't show up, I started to get worried."

"Then how did you guys find each other?" I asked, gesturing to Shelly and Steve then to Fred.

Shelly gave an unimpressed little huff.

"Well," she began. "I think you'll have to thank _Fred_ for that one."

Fred seemed a little surprised to suddenly find four pairs of eyes on himself.

"I caught Diego's scent after I ditched and headed North," Fred said in his slow way. "And I realised that you were running into a trap. So then I caught up to Diego who was already on his way back for you...and we were gonna get you."

"'Cept when we got here, the whole area was blocked off by those fucking wolves," said Diego bitterly, like he was furious at the memory. "We could smell you were inside but we just couldn't get to you."

"Which is where the reinforcements come in," said Shelly, eager for her turn to speak. "I had nearly made it to Chicago but suddenly I felt just sick. Every way I turned, I felt like I was gonna puke my guts out. All but one way. I had no choice but to run that way. I keep running and running until, guess who I find? Fred."

"Sounds about right," said Steve, looking greener at the memory.

"So…you can summon people to you?" I asked Fred.

He shrugged.

"More like make my own vicinity the only place that someone can bear to be," he said thoughtfully, as though he'd never actually wondered about the boundaries of his own gift. "So yeah, in a way."

I looked at Diego and he beamed at me.

 _In your vicinity is the only place I can bear to be._

"Hey!" Shelly said. "But Bree, we couldn't work it out. What's _your_ talent? The talent that the Yellow-Eyes were talking about?"

I raised my eyebrow and I stopped running. I couldn't resist the urge to show off.

Disentangling my hand from Diego's, I vanished.

"Wow," breathed Diego, eyes like saucers.

"Mint," said Steve greedily as he started to vibrate slightly.

"Let him in, Bree," Diego said. "He can use it."

I felt a tugging, a tugging that reminded me of Steve himself just a little then he vanished too.

"Holy shit!" cried the thin air where Steve had been. "I'm invisible!"

One by one the others also vanished as I felt the creeping sensation on my skin stretch to include their bodies too.

"Woo!" cried Steve as he blurred past me in a rush of camouflage. "Do you know what this means, guys?"

"What?" laughed Shelly as we all started to run again.

"We're going to live!" Steve burst.

"We're going to live!" Diego agreed, taking my invisible hand again, by some magical force knowing where it was.

"We're going to _live!"_ I screamed in ecstatic triumph as we all hurtled into the unknown.

Bree's coven against the world.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes:**

Hey guys, hope you like this (almost) conclusion and just in case anyone was wondering, Steve sings part of the chorus from Panic!At the Disco's 'Vegas Lights' which is a great song.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 16**

My new family. My real new family.

What a mess.

The outcasts of the outcasts, indeed.

But it was perfect.

As we crossed the border into Canada, we finally had the nerve to stop. I was thirsty.

"Can we _hunt_ already?" Shelly asked, foot tapping in an impatient way.

"Yeah," Steve said slyly. "We've got someone with an addictive nature here."

Shelly glared at him but I could see how desperate she actually was, more so than myself, despite the fact I was younger. Maybe there was some truth in what Steve had said?

Shock horror.

"Well, the reason I left Riley's band of fuck-ups wasn't completely for moral reasons," she said agitatedly. "He just didn't let me hunt enough."

Fred looked up helpfully from the magazine he had unfurled from _God knows where_ and had begun to read. I now noticed he was wearing a pair of glasses without the lenses.

He was a weird one. Well, I guess we all were, really.

"Shelly, I could help if you wanted?" he offered kindly.

Shelly shivered.

"Thanks, Fred…but no thanks," she said taking a shuddering breath.

"There'll be plenty of wolves around when the sun goes down," I said. "We could hunt then."

Diego put his arm around me as Steve chortled.

"Bree, that is some serious survivalist shit there," he laughed. "Times get tough?"

I laughed breathily.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Guess they did."

We looked around at each other. First thing we needed a heading, we all thought.

Or most of us.

Of course Steve had his priorities fucked.

"Guys," Steve said. "First things first, We need a _name,_ like, a coven name. I suggest…"

He pretended to draw a giant banner across the sky with his hands.

"The Fantastic Four!"

Shelly just stared at him. Her thirst did not improve her mood.

"Er, not anymore, dumb ass!" she said acidly.

"Sure there's four!" said Steve confidently. "Steve, Shelly, Fred and Breigo!"

 _"_ _Breigo?"_ Shelly asked, looking hilariously aghast.

"Famous Five, then?" suggested Diego.

"Diego," I laughed. "We're not exactly children's book material!"

"The _Furious_ Five," amended Steve hopefully. "That's a thing!"

"That's from Kung Fu Panda," said Fred thoughtfully.

"Wait," Steve said, his facial expression changing dramatically again. _"You've_ seen that?"

Shelly and I locked eyes.

That guy was unreal.

"On the subject," said Diego with a grin on his face, nudging me in the arm affectionately. "Turns out you _are_ a ninja after all."

I smiled back as Shelly muttered something dark about cultural insensitivity.

"Diego," said Steve. "With me and Bree, we're _all_ fucking ninjas!"

"I think we'll need it," I said, worried about what their involvement with me might mean for them. "The vampire cops aren't too happy with me."

Nor were the Yellow-Eyes, or the wolves. In fact, who apart from these four people were not fucked off with me? Dread settled in my stomach as it occurred to me that these four vampires would never be safe again for the sake of their involvement with me.

"Don't worry, Big Cheese," Steve said, sensing my anxiousness. "I'm a fucking _ace_ at avoiding the cops. True story."

"Demonstrated by your custodial sentence," added Shelly sweetly.

"Hey, go easy, Shelly," Diego said _very_ earnestly. "He just wasn't _ready_ that time, right Steve."

"I think the Yellow-Eyes promised me to the cops, that was their deal," I said, worriedly as Steve tried to poke Diego in the side.

"And they would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for us meddlin' kids!" finished Diego, ruffling Steve's already too-ruffled hair in retribution.

"Diego…" I laughed. "A man of culture, I see."

And as I laughed, I felt my chest lightening. You know what? Maybe we _would_ be okay.

"But Bree is now rescued," Shelly said snappily. "All present and correct. So now we need some sort if plan before those fucking wolves come find us. Where are we headed?"

She'd had enough. We'd all had enough.

We turned to Diego for instruction. He looked confused.

"You were voted leader," reminded Fred with a shrug.

"Er, wait, shit!" burst Diego and I laughed at his awkwardness. "So do I give the order or what?"

"Nah," said Steve. "We'll just all do our own thing, like usual."

"We're a fucking shambles," muttered Shelly.

"We are a _democracy,"_ corrected Fred with a smile. "So let's hear Bree's vote. I still vote lets get the fuck out of here and head North."

He turned to Shelly who nodded agreement.

"Bree where would you like to go?" she asked. "So far we have one vote for New York, two for Alaska and one for Las Vegas."

Vegas?

Diego grinned at my expression.

"Care of Steve."

"Hey! Vegas would be the fucking best!" he argued. "Plus you and Bree could get married!"

Steve threw his head to the pearly sky and started to sing at the top of his lungs.

"In the VE. GAS. _LIGHTS!"_

Shelly cuffed him round the head as a flock of birds were scared out of their tree.

"You'll get us all killed!" she hissed. "Fuck's sake Steve! How you survived on your own I will never know!"

"I don't survive.." he said smoothly. "I _live._ I am…an agent of chaos…just like Bree."

That one I couldn't deny.

"Or we could go to Mexico, for Diego," Steve then suggested.

"Errr…I'm from _Puerto Rico,"_ Diego said with a kind of resigned smirk. "But…thanks, I guess?"

"Christ!" I heard Shelly mutter as Diego grinned at me, wanting to know what I thought.

"Dunno," I shrugged, not used to having a say in anything. "I'll go with the majority, I guess."

"Alaska then?" confirmed Shelly briskly.

"Alaska," we all agreed in unison.

The decision was made.


End file.
